Chaos Theory : Day Zero
by PitViper
Summary: Buffy and the gang get Halloween costumes... and SG1 arrives in Sunnydale to observe the evening in costume as well. Needless to say, chaos theory is in full effect... AU
1. It Fell Off the Back of the Truck

Chaos Theory - Day Zero Part One. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Stargate SG-1/Star Wars/Star Trek/Halo/Lord of the Rings Crossover...

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Title: Chaos Theory : Day Zero  
Rating: PG-13 - Language and Violence.  
Genre: Crossover  
Author: PitViper  
Date (Part One): 2006-09-17  
Summary: This is a BtVS/SG-1/SW/ST/LotR/Halo crossover. Based on the Halloween costume episode. Very AU. Buffy and the gang get Halloween costumes... and SG-1 arrives in Sunnydale to observe the evening... in costume as well. Needless to say, chaos theory is in full effect...

Author's Note: I'm altering the timeline a bit here. SG-1 is somewhere in season 3. BtVS is the Halloween Ep. For the purposes of this story in the BtVS universe, the X-Box had been released around Christmas the previous year and Halo had been released about three months before "Halloween". I don't know as much as I'd like about BtVS, but I'm hoping to get the characterizations right. Any feedback is greatly appreciated. For Wars and Trek - the characters are being pulled from random points in each time line (usually right after the character has died) While there are hints at parings in this story – there will not be any blatant (or permanent) matchmaking. Please Note that this has not been Beta'ed.

Disclaimer: I don't own it, wish I did. I'm not making any money off of it – so please don't sue me. BtVS is the property of Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. Star Wars is owned by George Lucas. Stargate SG-1 belongs to Double Secret Productions and Sci-Fi channel. Lord of the Rings is the property of J.R.R. Tolkien and his family. Halo is owned by Bungie. And Star Trek is the property of Paramount Pictures (Who obviously understand nothing about Gene's vision of the future).

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**Chaos Theory: Day Zero  
Part One: "It Fell Off the Back of the Truck, Honest!" **

"So Carter..." Jack O'Neill (two l's) started, his face almost near a smile, "Wha'cha going as?"

Samantha Carter blinked as she perused the store's inventory. "Don't know just yet... but I think we ought to let the FBI know about some of this..." She indicated the items here, "They're too good to be simple replicas..."

"Now, now Carter..." Jack said, closing his eyes, "Where would the fun in that be? After all, this is Halloween. The night everyone gets to go out and pretend that they're something or someone else for a while. Besides, this guy is dirt cheap and he's got good stuff." He was looking at a pair of Mjolnir Armor costumes from the game Halo. "In fact... I think that I see what I'm wearing tonight!"

Carter grumbled, "Well... I guess I could go as Data..." She looked at the tan uniform and the excellent replica (or actual prop) phaser and tricorder.

Jack looked over his shoulder, "Data, eh? Somehow I always figured you for a Spock-type or something like that. After all, that nerve-pinch-thingy is pretty cool."

"Well..." Carter started, "His uniform is closer to my size... and I never liked pointy ears."

Jack seemed to deflate, "Then I guess getting you to dress in that wood-nymph or elf costume over there where Danny-boy's at would be out of the question?"

Carter looked over at the apparel in question, noticing the leather, and thin fabrics and such... and general lack of coverage, "Not likely sir."

"Gah!" Jack exclaimed, "Kill the sir, its Jack. J A C K." He said, emphasizing each and every letter. "Is that so hard to remember? Four lousy letters, that's all I ask when we're off duty: Jack."

"Theoretically, we're not off duty..." Carter said in a low tone.

Jack rolled his eyes, "Ok, so it's a bit of a working vacation, but still - come on Carter - do you think anything is going to happen? Honestly? I have a hard time with you buying into the mumbo-jumbo about this little slice of heaven."

Daniel, having a bunch of white robes and a plastic staff in hand, approached the small group. "Technically, according to my research, this town was built on the site or area known as 'Boca del Inferno' or 'Mouth of Hell'. Most maps created before 1870 refer to the region as a 'no-mans land where creatures of the night stalk the weary and unprepared travelers.' They warn clearly and quite vehemently that: Firstly, one should never travel alone here, and secondly that one should bring along a priest trained in expelling 'darkness', or at least very good at blessing water."

Jack sighed, "In other words, space monkey?"

"In other words, if even a fraction of a percent of what I've read is true about this place, this is as far from heaven as is possible to get on Earth." Daniel looked at his selection, "So, what do you think, Gandalf the White good enough for me?"

"I thought you would go after Saroun or Salmon or whoever the bad-guy was in that book..." Jack teased. "Heck, you could go as good ole Darth over there in the corner." He pointed out three dozen flashy Vader costumes of various sizes. "I know I've seen several of them walk out of here in the past fifteen minutes."

Daniel shuddered, "Please, Jack, this whole area gives me the creeps. I think it would be very, very bad karma to go as something that evil around here. Especially considering the reason why we're here in the first place."

"Not you too!" Jack groaned, half tempted to get the Vader costume just to prove his team wrong, "We're here to look for you-know-what's creeping around. I figured that this was the one night a year that those snakes could mope around without really hiding what they were. I didn't think you'd buy into that hogwash about vampires, demons, ghosts and other sundry things that go bump in the night!"

At this point Janet Frasier came around the clothing rack, "Daniel, Jack... am I interrupting something?" Her eyebrow was twitching slightly as she stared down the two men.

"Doc..." Jack started, realizing that he was getting too flustered about the whole thing, "what are you going as?"

"Oh," She smiled, as she showed off the blue-green Star Trek uniform and the rather large case that went with it. "I'm going as Doctor Crusher. It's the only... only one that fits me." She shrugged slightly embarrassed. After all, she wasn't very tall, but she made up for it in attitude.

"That makes my decision easy," Sam said, picking up Data's uniform, "Like you said, it's the only one close to my size."

Jack got a twinkle in his eye, "Are you sure that you don't want to try the wood-nymph costume over there?"

"No," came the annoyed and slightly exasperated comment from both women.

"But those uniforms... they're so... sweater-ry." Jack complained.

"Jack, hate to break it to you, but sweater-ry isn't a word." Daniel said, making sure that he hadn't missed any of his costume.

"Besides," Janet started, "we want to blend in, not attract attention. I mean, imagine us in those skimpy outfits? Everyone would be paying attention."

"And given the things I've heard about this place," Sam sighed, "Too much attention isn't a good thing. This place has a murder rate ten times that of New York City."

"And from the few Autopsy reports I've scrounged up, the usual cause of death is exsanguination." Janet shuddered. 'And the coroner cannot be serious - Death by barbecue fork?' She thought to herself.

Jack shook his head, "Come again?"

Sam rolled her eyes, "Blood loss."

"Riiiigght." Jack exaggerated. He glanced over toward Teal'c's direction. "Big guy looks like he's having a hard time."

"At least he's kept the manager busy enough." Janet muttered. "Wouldn't due to have him overhearing our conversation. Murray was very interested in the Jedi costumes they had. Evidently some 'props' fell off the truck heading out to the Skywalker ranch. And he has info on the new trilogy... and evidently costumes too. He said he even had robes from Mace Windu - who will be played by Samuel L Jackson."

"It would be a good look for T... I mean Murray." Jack said, almost forgetting to use his pseudonym. "Samuel L is about his size... Well... maybe not but at least the robes could be.

"Anyway," Jack started, picking up the Mjolnir armor in his size, "Lets go see if Murray needs some help with Ethan over there..."

---

Alexander 'Xander' Harris looked at the suit of Mjolnir armor. "Hum... Master Chief?" He mumbled quietly. He had been hoping for a small plastic gun to go along with his fatigues... But this... Halo was an excellent game. Unfortunately, he couldn't afford an X-box to play it at his leisure. And he most certainly couldn't afford to rent such a high quality replica. Although if he could, it would go a long way to helping to heal some of the emasculation suffered when Buffy had stood up for him. After all, what's more manly than being the Master Chief?

"Can I help you?" Asked the store's owner/manager.

Xander chuckled, "Only if you can manage to drop the price on this to something I can afford." He took a good look at the man before him... His first reaction upon hearing the English accent was to think of Giles... however it was obvious from his dress and general demeanor that he was far from being a card-carrying member of the 'Tweed Brigade (tm)'.

The man smiled, "Name's Ethan by the way. So interested in this little nick-knack for the evening, eh?"

"This has got to be the coolest copy of the Master Chief's armor I've ever seen." Xander noted honestly. Seeing this armor in real life made him really want an X-Box...

Ethan seemed to be pondering the Armor, "Got a friend who managed to grab me all sorts of unique and specialized costumes. This one, in fact, was used at the E-3 when Halo was introduced. The other one I had was a bit less... used." He seemed to crack a smile, "You look like an honest boy, I'll tell you what... Twenty and it's yours for the evening."

Xander was looking a bit suspicious. Twenty dollars was way too cheap for a costume of this complexity. Despite that small fact, however, the suit was still firmly out of his limited budget's reach. "Maybe I should look around a bit more."

Ethan frowned, "No. If you want the costume, then it must be yours. Fifteen?"

He did the mental inventory of his available cash. "Fourteen seventy three?" Xander asked hopefully.

The frown became a smile, "We'll make it fourteen even. Don't feel like dealing with the change. Just don't let anyone know I let this costume go for so cheap... it might get back to the bloke who bought the other one." Ethan suppressed a shudder, "And he had that military look about him without the costume."

"Xander!" Came Willow Rosenberg's shrill voice. "Lookie!" She said, shoving a pile of robes into his face. "I'm going to combine a ghost costume with Yoda's Mask and lightsaber! Isn't that cool!"

Ethan almost frowned at this, "Oh... are you sure you want to hire both?"

The red-headed girl nodded emphatically, "I mean I always go as a ghost. Every year the same thing, blah blah blah, white ghost moving down the street y'know? But I figured this year I'd be different. Instead of the white sheet, I'd be something more original. Yoda's Ghost! I mean maybe it's not that original being a ghost, but its _Yoda's_ Ghost, y'know? With the movies coming out again and all the hype I just figure that going as Yoda would be so cool. And..."

"Wills. Babble." Xander interrupted before the store owner decided to raise the price on the costumes. He watched Willow turn three shades of red.

Just then Buffy approached the group, holding both her and Angel's robes and lightsabers. "Willow, you sure you want to do this Jedi thing-a-mcbob?" Buffy asked, "Because if you don't I can always go and choose that 18th century outfit that I had before..." She was thinking seriously about it, but these Jedi robes were a bit better for the slayage, should the need arise. Despite Giles' argument to the contrary, she wasn't quite willing to accept that nothing would happen on Halloween. Besides, the robes would let her and Angel hide some better weapons.

"No no! It's so cool, we'll be like Jedi, you're that Siri Tachi gal, Angel can be Obi-wan Kenobi, and I'll be wise Master Yoda!" Willow bubbled out, "And Xander can be the good Anakin Skywalker!"

Suddenly Xander got a panicked look on his face, "Uh, no. No way. Not touching Anakin or Darth. Uh-no. Going as good 'ole Master Chief here, Xan-man is not going to go Sith-like around SunnyD. Too much bad karma. No way."

"But it's good Anakin, Right Mr. Rayne?" Willow pouted, "Although I wonder who got Padme's outfit? I mean I so would have liked to done Padme and had Xander as Anakin. I mean she's supposed to be Luke and Leia's mother according to the websites and such..."

Ethan smiled, suppressing the urge to pet the girl like some hyper-active puppy, "My dear, I think 'Xander' here has made his choice... it's a good one too." He looked at Buffy, "You sure you got the right size for this 'Angel' of yours?"

Buffy nodded, "Yep. Should fit him just fine."

"Can't believe that we're going to be hauling around Deadboy for Halloween." Xander mumbled. He suddenly remembered Ethan being there and noticed his confusion... not to mention Buffy's death-ray stare. "I mean he's just so... you know? Broody."

Willow piped in, "Yeah, if broodiness was an Olympic sport, he'd be team USA's champion." She turned to Buffy, "No offense there, Buff, but he's right about that."

Buffy narrowed her eyes, "Well, Willow, this was your idea. I could always get that nice seductive 18th century dress and seduce him out of his broodiness."

Willow smiled happily, "No, no. We'll just have to deal with our Xander here being an armored soldier, while we get to be graceful Jedi warriors."

"Yoda is like Nine Hundred years old, Wills. Nothing graceful about that. Green and wrinkly yes, graceful... somehow that I doubt." Buffy said then sighed, "Oh well... We should check out anyways. Before I change my mind."

Ethan frowned slightly watching Willow with her selections. 'The spells are set for one costume... how will the magic work with two?' He shook his head and smiled finally, 'Why am I worried. I'm feeding Janus. The crazier the better!'

---

Author's Notes:  
It's been a while. For those who know me, and are curious, no – I have not abandoned my other stories. I've decided not to post new stories to the net until all parts of that story are nearly complete. My muse has shifted gears and brought me here for a while. And I assure you that this story – At least the Day Zero part of it – is nearly completed. Of course, if everyone hates it, I'll simply stop with this installment. I'm simultaneously posting the second part of this story, after that, I will post a part every two weeks.

Day Zero is just the first story in what will be a whole series (Hopefully) about this particular crossing.

As always, all reviews are appreciated.

Later,  
P.V.


	2. Introductions Are In Order

Chaos Theory - Day Zero Part Two. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Stargate SG-1/Star Wars/Star Trek/Halo/Lord of the Rings Crossover...

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Title: Chaos Theory : Day Zero  
Rating: PG-13 - Language and Violence.  
Genre: Crossover  
Author: PitViper  
Date (Part Two): 2006-09-18  
Summary: This is a BtVS/SG-1/SW/ST/LotR/Halo crossover. Based on the Halloween costume episode. Very AU. Buffy and the gang get Halloween costumes... and SG-1 arrives in Sunnydale to observe the evening... in costume as well. Needless to say, chaos theory is in full effect...

Disclaimer: I don't own it, wish I did. I'm not making any money off of it – so please don't sue me. BtVS is the property of Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. Star Wars is owned by George Lucas. Stargate SG-1 belongs to Double Secret Productions and Sci-Fi channel. Lord of the Rings is the property of J.R.R. Tolkien and his family. Halo is owned by Bungie. And Star Trek is the property of Paramount Pictures (Who obviously understand nothing about Gene's vision of the future).

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**Chaos Theory: Day Zero  
Part Two: "Introductions Are In Order... or Disorder." **

Willow was walking along the street trying to find Xander, who had stomped off in a dark mood after Angel and Buffy appeared (nearly hand in hand). "Xander, where are you?" She called out softly, and sighed. Yoda's mask was hanging loosely from her neck, and his lightsaber was clutched firmly in her right hand. "Why did you have to go and run off, you idiot?" she mumbled more to her self than to any bystanders.

Suddenly she felt dizzy... as though she had been knocked backwards. "Whoa..." She exclaimed, stumbling back onto the street. She closed her eyes as she fell. Her head was hurting slightly... but not enough to make her worried. "oowwwie." She muttered, as the headache set in.

"Pain I sense, yes? Unusual..." Willow heard her own voice trail off somewhere in front of her. Opening her eyes, she stared at her own body slowly rising from the ground. A slight gasp emanated from the being, "Not where I thought I was. Not at all, it seems."

Willow's shocked expression became one of slight panic as she got up herself, "Wha...What's going on?" She stepped forward and her hand passed through her body. "I'm...I'm a ghost!"

She watched as her own eyes became larger with shock, "A ghost you are not." The person in control of her body said softly. "Know not I what is the reason. But no darkness I sense to cause this. Your body I have, but your mind wanders as a free spirit. Half there, half not."

"Y...Yoda?" Willow asked still shocked.

A soft chuckle emanated from her former body. "Know my name do you young one?" He watched the ghost-like person nod. "Give me your name, will you?"

"Willow." She said, amazed.

Suddenly several screams pierced the air. Yoda frowned, "Hurry we must, Much confusion there is. And..." Willow watched as her body frowned even more, "And the Sith I sense. Solve this riddle quickly we must, before innocents are lost."

---

"Chief!" Cortana's voice echoed through the helmet.

The being in the Mjolnir armor had been laid out flat on the ground. "Co..Cortana. I feel like a truck ran me over."

Cortana let out an electric sigh of relief, "Luckily for you that you have such a hard head."

Master Chief John 117 chuckled lightly, "If that's so why does it hurt so much?"

"Want the truth, or a nice happy lie?" Cortana asked seriously.

John mulled it over, "The truth."

"You've somehow possessed the body of a seventeen year old kid."

John blinked, "What?"

"Good news is your Spartan modifications are happily attaching themselves to this kids' biology. Bad news: You're not going to be able to do squat until the nanites finish."

"How long? And why isn't it killing him?" Half of the prepared Spartan's died during the adaptive phase. An unprepared body didn't stand a chance.

"My estimates, five more minutes. As to why it's not killing you..him..whatever... that's... Well... simply put: I don't know." Cortana admitted reluctantly. "The suit's doing a lot to keep you alive though, including administering pain killers. You should only have a slight headache."

John couldn't help but smile through the pain. "Well... since I'm just a hitchhiker here..." He thought about it though. Once the Spartan upgrades started... "Whenever I leave this kids body, what happens to him?"

"I... he'll probably die unless the armor and the nanotech remain." She admitted softly, "But don't worry. I'm sure we'll think of something before this funky-ness is done."

"So says you." John muttered, finally able to move his legs and arms. The feeling was ever so slowly returning to his extremities.

Cortana spoke with a smile. "Oh come off it. You know you love me. I help you find all the cool toys." Suddenly her voice seemed to fade into the distance, "Well I'll be..."

---

"...Damned..." Cortana finished. "Chief, how's it going?"

"Couldn't have found me a younger model?" Master Chief asked blithely.

"Sorry. But hey, he should be good as new in about... two minutes forty two seconds."

"Wonderful. Maybe then the dull ache in my knees will go away." John frowned in his armor, "So what'cha going to be 'damned' for?"

John could practically feel Cortana raising an eyebrow. "I decided to check the Tac-Net, just to see if there were any friendlies around. Imagine my surprise when I got a ping back from myself."

John blinked several times as the pain slowly left his knee joints. "Ok... so?"

He could almost feel Cortana's scowl, "I swear, I should have the med-nanites check for Alzheimer's." Cortana muttered darkly, "There's another version of us out there."

"You mean another Spartan with a copy of your program?" John asked, knowing he was the last Spartan II.

"No... there's another you and another me. Complete... whole... Not a copy." Cortana informed him. "Well, at least the other me is not a copy... this John is in the body of a seventeen year old."

John muttered a dark curse, "So another me hijacked another body? And turned it into a Spartan... with another you floating around in his head?"

Cortana paused for a moment, "Yeah. That about covers it."

John summed up his thoughts with one word: "Fuck!"

---

"Data?" Beverly Crusher asked looking at the female-android look-a-like. It should have been impossible... but something deep inside her was saying this was Data. She had just managed to drag her companion into a small shed off the main path they had been on. A quick glance in the sky told her that she was on Earth - the autumn constellations out in full force in the rapidly darkening sky. She could smell the sea-salt on the air and the ocean breeze. And she could tell it was the Pacific Ocean by the smell alone.

Data's eyes blinked. "I...error...detect...data...overflow...processing..."

Beverly pulled out her medical tricorder, scanning the person before her. Sure enough, readings consistent with a Soong-type android began flashing across the screen... curiously intermixed with human organic components. A positronic net interlaced with a human organic brain.

Data, for his part, simply twitched randomly as he worked to overcome the sudden differences in his basic construction. Finally after several minutes of reprogramming, he initiated a restart of all his primary systems.

Beverly watched as Data shut down for a few seconds then quickly restarted himself... or herself - considering that this body was female. Finally the android's eyes rested upon her, and she gave a warm smile at the confusion on the android's face. "Hello Data."

Data blinked, "Identify yourself?" He quickly noticed that his voice was quite feminine and his body had the features of a female humanoid. "Have you changed my internal and external construction for some reason? Why have you integrated biological material into my cybernetic matrix... And how do you know my name? The last thing I remember was being aboard Shinzon's flagship."

Beverly's face scowled for a moment, wondering why Data didn't recognize her. "Data, its me... Its Beverly Crusher."

Data looked carefully at the Doctor's uniform. It was a medical officers uniform, rank commander. "That cannot be. Your physical appearance is not at all similar to Doctor Crusher's. In fact, several key elements of your physical composition are incongruous with Doctor Crusher's height and mass. Also, your voice is only a forty two point seven percent match with my vocal records of Doctor Crusher. Although your voice inflections and enunciation are accurate, your tonal quality and modulation are off. Therefore I find it unlikely that you are indeed Beverly Crusher."

Beverly frowned. "There has to be an explanation for this, Data. I know you, You went over to Shinzon's ship, and sacrificed yourself to destroy the Thaleron Radiation weapon. Your brother's name is Lore. Your off-switch is in the lower base of your spine. You created a self-override for that after Lore used it to deactivate you and take your place. Your mother is a Soong type android created by your father..."

Data blinked, "Enough. Authenticate with your access code clearance."

Beverly thought for a moment back to that time. It had been five years since Data had sacrificed himself... it took only a second for her to remember it, since she had to use it to create his death certificate and log file. "Crusher Beta Two five six nine."

Data blinked for a moment, as though surprised at the response, "Confirmed. Doctor... how is this possible?"

"I think... somehow... we've possessed other people's bodies. I can almost sense someone else in my mind... but they're blocked off from me. If Deanna were here maybe..."

A small smile graced Data's lips. "I see... I have a large memory matrix file I cannot access. The file is similar in construction to my memories of the colonists... but larger. However all attempts at accessing the contents have been denied... although there is a name: Samantha Carter." Data looked down at herself. "I believe that this may be her body."

Beverly, meanwhile, was concentrating on the fleeting feeling of someone else in her head. Deanna had taught her various tricks should there be any kind of mental incursion... however nothing she did let her get more than a cursory glance at the surface thoughts of the isolated presence. "Jamie...no Janet. Janet Frasier." She sighed with the effort. "That's all I can get. Whatever it is that's keeping her mind away from me is too good for me to beat."

Suddenly a scream pierced their quiet conversation. Followed rapidly by another.

In an instant Data was on her feet, although feeling a bit awkward with the mass on her chest. She quickly compensated for her new physique. "Fascinating..." She muttered, "Not even the Borg had the ability to so flawlessly integrate biology and technology in such a manner." Quickly she shook her head, "We should investigate..."

Another scream pierced the night as Data pulled her phaser.

"Are you armed doctor?"

Beverly pulled her type two phaser from her utility belt. "Ready. Stun?"

Data rapidly checked her weapon, "Set."

"Lets go." Beverly commanded.

---

After the pain subsided from his... death experience... Jedi Master Mace Windu quickly regained his senses. The first thing he felt was an oddness around his stomach area. He looked down and noticed a rapidly sealing scar. Then he noticed a small creature writhing on the ground. The snake-like being exuded evil from what he could sense of it in the Force. In disgust, Mace ignited his lightsaber and sliced the creature in half.

As the Jedi Master looked around him he sighed. "What in the name of the Force?" He muttered as he took in the primitive village or town he was in. His Jedi sense of smell detected traces of spent hydrocarbons and noted that most of the ground vehicles had wheels. Wheels! No advanced society in the Republic still used such primitive technology in a town of this size.

"Such wonders..." Said an awed-voice nearby.

Mace directed his senses toward the being and was overwhelmed by what he sensed. His immediate reaction to the Force-presence of this being was to ignite his lightsaber in a defensive posture.

The being took a step back and held his staff and free hand out in a submissive posture: "Stay your weapon, young knight. I mean you no harm."

Mace for his part blinked, and extinguished his saber. As he looked at the aura this being - for it was no mere man here - he realized that he reacted to the sheer power radiating from his form... without realizing that this power was firmly rooted in the light side of the Force. "Forgive me... my last memories are... disturbing. I was in a life or death situation, more directed towards the death side, moments before I found myself here." He placed his weapon within its holster on his belt. "I am Mace Windu, A Master of the Jedi arts within our order."

At this the man lowered his arms and rested the staff in the crook of his arm. A soft smile came over his features. "I can see the pattern of your studies, young master. Its very strong in your aura." He gestured between them, "I am unsure of what your senses are telling you, but I sense chaos magic is responsible for us taking these forms."

At this Mace's eyebrow shot up, "Chaos magic? Forms? What..."

He was cut off by a dismissive wave, "We refer to the manipulation of ethereal energies as magic. There are various forms, of course, drawing upon various sources. Some draw the magic from their environment. Some from within themselves. Still others depend on higher beings to provide the energies they wish to project.

"The spell I sense is one of the latter type - I am unfamiliar with the god called upon to create this," The man gestured around himself with his free hand, "but its stench reeks of chaos and disorder. If you have not already sensed it, we've been placed within bodies that are not our own." He gestured to himself again, "I am known as Gandalf in the human tongue. The elven folk know me as Mithrandir. I am a powerful wielder of our magicks, similar, I sense, to a Master within your order."

A scream pierced the night, and Gandalf turned sharply in the direction of the sound. "We must be cautious... dark creatures walk this land."

Mace nodded as he watched Gandalf begin to move in the direction of the scream. "I sense a disturbing amount of dark energy... and there must be Sith nearby... certainly more than one, since a single Sith would not stand out in this morass of dark energy." He moved quickly to the magician's side.

Gandalf picked up his pace. "I agree. There are many practitioners of the dark arts here. Although I sense that the spell that brought us here in itself was not evil. The intent seems merely to be to cause chaos..."

"Something that we seem to have plenty of." Mace noted darkly as he and Gandalf proceeded in the direction of the yelling.

---

The first thing that Padme noticed was that she was in a quaint small town. She knew towns such as this to exist on a multitude of worlds - although this one did seem more primitive than most... still... She observed her surroundings with a cautious eye as she felt for her hidden weapon. It should not have been there, but she was relieved that it was present - especially since she had not brought it with her when she went to face Anakin. She looked within her own mind, and brushed up against the consciousness she was sharing.

It had not taken her long to discover that she had invaded another being's body. At least she assumed so since the last memory she had was of having died giving birth to her precious children. If it hadn't been for Obi-wan stowing away on her ship, she could have confronted Anakin and turned him back - but as it was she had been in no position to fight him. Indeed it was as though something was sucking the living force from her - ensuring her death. She wracked her mind for the answers... but found none except that, perhaps, it had been the will of the Force. She had died before she could tell Anakin the full truth. And before she could raise her precious children.

She didn't know why she was here, but she could sense chaos and darkness intertwined in the night. She lifted a part of her dress robe, and noticed that there was a strange glyph located on the interior of the sleeve. The glyph reeked of chaos and disorder... and was tied to the source of the madness she sensed around her.

She tentatively reached out with the Force, trying to find some familiar pattern. She had to cautiously feel within the Force however - if there were Jedi or Sith around, her probing could attract their attentions. Something she wished to avoid. She tried to sense the threads attached to the glyph - they were so tenuous, so slender.

A scream less than a block away interrupted her probe, and she reached out with her senses looking for other dangers. And what they told her was shocking to say the least.

She used the Force to enhance her speed. She might be willing to keep her secret if it were only her life at stake. But her life was not the only life at risk, and there were few defenders here that would be unaffected by the chaos.

She knew that she was far from home. Perhaps not even in her own galaxy or time. As she raced towards the frightened girl, she decided that her secrets meant little here.

With a flick of her wrist a silver handle extended into position from a hidden arm-holster. And with a snap-hiss a brilliant purple-white blade flared to life. Padme watched as the 'creature' pulled back the young woman's head so as to expose her neck. All her senses screamed that this abomination needed to be dispatched.

The creature noticed at the last second the woman racing towards him. As he made note of the weapon in her hands, he exclaimed, "Fuck me!" The Padme leaped into the air... and instant later the laser-blade cut cleanly through the vampire's head and neck, causing it to turn to dust.

The victim collapsed bonelessly to the ground. Her breathing coming in short, ragged gasps.

Padme risked reaching out with the Force to calm the young woman as she extinguished her blade. "Be still, you are safe now."

"W...who are you?" The woman asked, finally getting enough control over her breathing to ask.

Padme sensed a Jedi and a... very powerful being... approaching. "Its not important miss. Just remain calm..." Padme's force-danger sense flared, just as a vampire came flying out of some nearby shrubbery. Padme's lightsaber was ignited in an instant, and slicing the flying vampire in half in the next heartbeat.

At the same time that Padme dealt with the nearby attacker, three other vampires had launched themselves at the two approaching men.

Gandalf merely raised an eyebrow, "Vampyres how... pedestrian."

Mace had ignited his own lightsaber, dispatching the closest blood-sucker with a single slash. "These things reek of the dark side." He said as the dust from the vampire settled around him.

Gandalf extended his staff outward before him, as the two other vamps closed more cautiously. "Darkness has many weaknesses. And for these foul demons... 'Solari'!"

The crystal embedded in Gandalf's staff glowed a brilliant yellow-white as sunlight streamed from it.

The two nearby vampires howled in pain for a moment, then caught fire and crumbled to dust. Two more vamps that had been hiding nearby in some shrubbery had ran quickly away - their clothes smoldering as they raced from the small sun.

The spell faded quickly as Gandalf blinked his eyes and sighed. "Always leaves spots in my vision, that one does."

He heard Mace breathe out a slight chuckle, "A handy tool, that staff of yours."

"Its not so much the staff as it is how well one wields it." Gandalf noted. Suddenly he sensed Mace stiffen. "What is wrong my friend?"

He noticed Mace staring at the young women nearby.

"That's Padme Amadala - The senator from Naboo." Mace noted to Gandalf, then raised his voice so that Padme would hear: "And she should not be holding a lightsaber."

Padme gently touched the young woman, lifting her up from the ground. As soon as the woman was steady they made their way towards Mace and Gandalf.

Padme glanced at the stoic Jedi - who was scowling at her. She brought her head up into a superior position and met his gaze. "What's bothering you?" She asked with a touch of anger.

"How is it that you've come by a lightsaber, Senator?" Mace asked, trying to feel her with the Force. His senses came up against a formidable wall that resisted all his attempts to breach. She was strong in the force. If he had not known beyond all doubt that Palpatine was the Sith Master, he would have considered her a very likely canidate.

Padme sighed, feeling the Force probe and easily resisting it. After all Mace did not have the right to try to force his way into her mind. Still, she could explain: "Its a long story. The short side of things... I was born a Force sensitive. But my parents were unwilling to give me to the Jedi. So many had been taken... My parents didn't want their youngest daughter to be taken as well. Xao'cha Ning was a friend of my parent's. Knowing that I would need training, she took it upon herself to train me.

Mace scowled, "There is no Jedi by such a name. Neither with the order, or out of it. Was she a Sith?"

Padme practically growled, "Never! She was the gentlest person I ever knew."

"If she was not Jedi or Sith, then how did she learn enough to train you?"

Padme lowered her eyes slightly. She didn't want to reveal this, but Xao was long departed from Naboo. Her trail was cold, and the odds of either the Jedi or Sith ever finding her were slim. She raised her eyes to meet Mace's gaze once more and answered, "She was Ja-dai."

Mace's eyes widened. So close that name to that of the Jedi order. But so very far in its philosophies. While it was true that the Ja-dai gave birth to the modern Jedi... they also gave birth to the vicious Sith. But the Ja-dai fell long before the first struggles of Jedi versus the Sith. So he responded with the only word that entered his mind: "Impossible"

At this Padme blinked, and suddenly realized what it was that Xao had told her. As the realization struck her full force... she couldn't help but release a dark chuckle. "Master Windu... I'd expect you of all people to not be so narrow or closed minded about such things. Of course, Xao told me that this would eventually happen, that the Jedi had closed their minds to the true nature of the Force. She had thought it funny then, too." She sighed as she looked towards the young woman who was staring at her, Mace, and Gandalf. "This must seem all too insane for you." She directed towards the younger woman.

The woman sighed, Vampires she could understand... but this? Jedi? Ja-dai? Lightsabers? She shook her head. "After what I've seen tonight... not really. I think I can get home now... its just a little ways away."

Padme nodded and the woman turned, walked for a few seconds, then broke into a full-out sprint. Padme wanted to sigh again.

Gandalf, meanwhile, leaned upon his staff, watching the proceedings. He resisted the urge to chuckle at the woman's obvious panic and clear inability to accept what her senses were telling her. Gandalf cast a small tracking spell on the fleeing woman, and then turned to the two individuals he was with. He looked at them and realized that his newly-made friend Mace was being quite hostile towards the young lady. "Not of the same order, I take it?"

"She cannot be Ja-dai. Their kind were extinguished long ago by the false teachings and weakness they nurtured. She's more likely a Sith infiltrator." Mace said, his fingers brushing over the activation stud on his weapon.

Padme's head swiveled back to Mace, "Master Windu, while I accept that you are a master of Jedi... compared to the Ja-dai... you are merely an acolyte. Xao trained me in nine different forms of lightsaber combat. I've mastered six of them. You would have a difficult time defeating me. Because I am Ja-dai." She looked him in the eye carefully and said, "Stop thinking about attacking me."

Gandalf's grip on his staff tightened as he watched his younger companion. "Master Windu, I sense no darkness within this one. I do not believe she is your enemy."

Mace, who had almost decided to attack after having sensed that Padme had torn through his mental defenses without effort, backed down. Part of him was more than a little curious how the man had managed to get any sort of sense out of Padme - the sense of the Force around her was powerful, but he could not tell the difference between the essence that was Padme and the rest of the Force. "If what you have said is true, then this is most disturbing. After all, the Ja-dai spawned the Sith. How can I trust you? Especially after lying to the Jedi for so long."

Padme groaned, "Is this what it comes down to? Mistrust and disorder? Even here? Even now after so much has gone to ruin and despair?" She looked at him noticing the differences in his features. He too was in a different body. Yet, they had recognized each other instantly. She shook her head, no use contemplating the why of it - it was unimportant. "The Sith were a disease upon the Republic. And the Republic became decrepit and stagnant enough to fall to that disease. The Ja-dai had warned both the Sith and the Jedi that their way was madness... Strange that it took me this long to understand why."

Windu's eyes narrowed, "What are you saying? That there's something inherently wrong with our philosophy?"

"The Jedi are at one extreme, the Sith at the other. And there is an imbalance between the Sith and Jedi. The universe hates imbalance and will solve it through entropy. Since there are so few Sith, and so many Jedi... it only makes sense that the Sith would be far more powerful as to compensate for the numbers of the Jedi." Padme looked deeply into his eyes, "That is why none of us saw Palpatine for what he was... until it was too late. Poor Anakin. He never stood a chance."

Mace blinked at her. "Are you saying that Anakin betrayed me and joined Palpatine to correct an imbalance in the Force?"

Padme's stare turned into a glare. "No." She re-holstered her lightsaber, "He joined Palpatine because the Jedi order denied him the one thing he truly needed."

"We denied Anakin almost nothing! He was the Chosen One! He already had everything he needed!" Mace raged.

Gandalf closed his eyes as he realized what had happened with the young man, "You poor fool." He whispered in pity. "You gave him everything except love." Gandalf could almost see Padme nodding in agreement in his mind's eye. He could also see that this 'Force' was a primal energy source - perhaps the very source of earth-bound energies. Therefore the person's state of mind could drastically alter the intent of how these Jedi wielded the Force. So the Jedi, probably realizing this themselves, made the ultimate mistake - limiting emotion. Gandalf knew that some races _could_ do it, but for a human...

Mace spun around toward Gandalf, "There is no emotion, only Peace." He repeated the Jedi credo. "For a Jedi to have emotion is to fall down the dark path!" He turned back to Padme, "That is why I will never accept the Ja-dai philosophy. You thrive on emotion! All emotion must be denied or there's a chance that the Dark Side will prevail."

Padme felt a tear come to her eyes, "And that is why the Jedi fell." She began moving towards the nearest concentration of Sith energies. "To this subject I will only say this: there is no light, there is no dark... there is only the Force. Until the Jedi realize that, no power in the universe can save them." She sensed the darkness moving towards a place where the barriers between reality were weak. "Arguing about this is pointless, there are innocents out there to save and evil to slay. We must go, now!"

Gandalf began to join the young woman, "She is correct Master Windu. We should not waste our time here. Let us be off and protect those we can... and perhaps find the source of this chaos."

---

Siri Tachi spun around with her saber catching the Dark Lord of the Sith Vader's blade with her own. Random photons shot off at the interface of the two energy fields. She did not think of how this was possible, that a beam of coherent light, little thicker than a strand of hair surrounded by an equally nebulous electromagnetic field could block another such device. She simply trusted in the truth - not bothering with the physics nor technologies involved. It worked, and she accepted that.

Behind her, Obi-wan fought another Darth Vader. Siri could feel more Sith Lords approaching. This was madness! But they could not leave this spot. She could feel the twisted energies here - the dark corruptions coming from planes of existence infinitely more rooted in evil. If they did not defend this place, and the Sith were to attempt to breach the dimensional barriers... It would be the end of all.

Vader hissed angrily, "Fool! You cannot escape your destiny!" Vader pushed his advantage, his cybernetic limbs pummeling the smaller woman with brute strength. "Join us, it is the only way."

Siri dug into the ground for leverage as she parried the Dark Lord's strikes with Jedi grace, "I remember you saying that once before, Vader." She spun around, catching the sith off balance for a moment, "Only fate had permitted you that victory." Vader parried poorly and suddenly Siri ducked under his defenses, slashing into his breathing unit. "As fate has granted me this victory." She spun, taking the Sith Lord's head from his shoulders.

She looked at the decapitated Sith with pity. The creature had been previously... a corruption of the force. Some sort of blood-fiend. There had been rumors in her childhood of such things existing. Creatures empowered solely by the dark-side. Dark creations of ancient Sith Masters - Creatures that fed upon the blood and life force of living beings, cursing those who were forced to drink the corrupted blood to become like creatures. However when the Sith Lord Vader had taken the animated corpse... It had become alive again. Granted it was the life of the Sith that filled it, but its body was no longer dead.

But even this was not the most amazing aspect of the situation. No - it was the fact that she was physically stronger... she barely felt the blows that the Sith had rained down upon her. When last she had fought Vader, and lost, she could not stand up to his droid-like strength and single minded devotion to the powers of the dark side. Now, even without a Jedi trance, she felt her fatigue melting away. She put it down to her host - that she must possess such strength and the ability to fight these things she sensed.

A prodding in the Force made her turn to parry another Vader's strike. "Siri Tachi." This Vader breathed.

Siri sighed in despair. How many times would she have to hear this useless prattle from Vader? "I will not turn." She thought back to one of the defining moments in her existence. She had a force dream - a dream that had revealed her place in prophesy. She had a choice - one direction would lead her down a dark path, serving a dark master and culminating in her eventual termination by Vader's squads without much of a challenge. Her second path was to remain with the Jedi - and most likely be killed by Vader in his assault on the Temple. The final choice had been to disappear. Vanish without a trace and confront Vader much later and preferably after having learned more of the Jedi arts. She had chosen the latter - but it had not been enough for her confrontation.

Vader drew himself up, his saber at the ready, "We shall see..."

---

In the distance, behind a bookcase, a man in a hooded robe and what appeared to be a female version of a corrupted Anakin Skywalker stood observing the battle.

"Master Yoda approaches..." She said, beginning to move forward. The robed man's hand shot out to grasp her shoulder.

"Patience my young apprentice. Allow these..." The man gestured to the growing number of Vaders approaching the two Jedi combatants. "Acolytes to whittle them down. Even Yoda cannot face such overwhelming strength with the pitiful support he has."

"Yes... my master." She said, looking at the battle. She did not understand how she came to be in this form. Even more curiously, she didn't understand why her connection to the past and the future were so strong. She could practically hear the stars singing! And the song they sang... She had tried to warn Palpatine that they would find no victory here this evening. But the evil Dark Lord was unwilling to recognize the danger.

She realized her fealty to Palpatine was fading rapidly. The sith were not more powerful than the Jedi. They could not be, for as he looked at the strands that formed both future and past, he only saw the Force. The force at points was violent and shallow - and at others calm and almost infinitely deep. But there was only one Force. To manipulate this force was to cause ripples or torrents within it. And every mote of Force energy that was used could either help or hinder - based on how it was used.

Yes the Sith could cloud the future. They could corrupt and twist it with ease. Even to the point of blinding the Jedi Order. But there was a price - to blind others, one must also blind themselves. It was only Palpatine's arrogance that kept them from retreating.

Anakin realized that the soul of the body he inhabited was tortured. Much in the same way he had been tortured. He also realized that the body he inhabited had been corrupted by a force as dark and destructive as any Sith energy. In fact, he realized... her body had been dead.

Since the living could not occupy a dead body, he had to conclude that the chaos energies he could sense brought this... creature back to life. After all, he could breathe, and he could feel his heart beating. He could also sense that the demon... for there was no other word he could conjure for the vile presence he had briefly sensed when he had arrived in this body... was gone. And with that disruptive presence vanquished, the poor soul in this body had experienced its first true peace in a very long time.

And to some extent he could feel the spirit of the woman within him - she had, for lack of a better word, loved the creature which Palpatine had inhabited. Although that love was created by the twisted insanity brought by the demon. Perhaps that trapped... creature within Palpatine was what kept the Sith Master from ordering him into the fray. And oh how he so wished to join that battle! To fight beside his friends and vanquish these dark shadows of himself. But so long as Palpatine retained control of that other vessel, however... She would be restrained to his side. And though he wished to destroy the presence of Palpatine... he could not bring this female body to commit the act. Love was powerful. So very, very powerful.

So Anakin Skywalker fingered the handle of her blue-bladed lightsaber, unable to strike down the darkness next to him, and unable to join the battle before him.

---

Author's Notes: Well, here's the second part, with a hint of what is to come. So far I have eight completed parts out of a planned ten or eleven, and my target is between 35,000 and 50,000 words for this first "chapter". As I said, I'll be posting them one part at a time every two weeks.

Now, I'm probably not as familiar with the Star Wars universe as I should be, but I decided to insert a "Pre-Jedi" order into this story called the "Ja-dai" I know that the story is that the Sith broke off from the Jedi, but I needed to have a Force-sensitive order that would seemingly be extinct yet have a few followers that were fluent in its arts and usage. I made Padme a Force-sensitive because I always thought that she was over-aggressive and too confident (not to mention good) when it came to battle scenes. Even at the age of 14 a queen would probably not be willing to be involved in the things she chose to take on by herself. Her insistence, for example, of accompanying Qui-Gon into town on Tattooine. The fact that these decisions were not only instrumental, but also surprisingly insightful, seems to suggest that she was at least being guided by the Force.

Later,  
P.V.


	3. Not You Again

Chaos Theory - Day Zero Part Three. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Stargate SG-1/Star Wars/Star Trek/Halo/Lord of the Rings Crossover...

---  
Title: Chaos Theory: Day Zero  
Rating: PG-13 - Language and Violence.  
Genre: Crossover   
Author: PitViper  
Date (Part Three): 2006-10-02  
Summary: This is a BtVS/SG-1/SW/ST/LotR/Halo crossover. Based on the Halloween costume episode. Very AU. Buffy and the gang get Halloween costumes... and SG-1 arrives in Sunnydale to observe the evening... in costume as well. Needless to say, chaos theory is in full effect...

Disclaimer: I don't own it, wish I did. I'm not making any money off of it – so please don't sue me. BtVS is the property of Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. Star Wars is owned by George Lucas. Stargate SG-1 belongs to Double Secret Productions and Sci-Fi channel. Lord of the Rings is the property of J.R.R. Tolkien and his family. Halo is owned by Bungie. And Star Trek is the property of Paramount Pictures (Who obviously understand nothing about Gene's vision of the future).

---

**Chaos Theory: Day Zero  
Part Three: "Not You... Again."  
**  
It was an act of pure restraint that kept the younger Master Chief from emptying his clip into the Elite's head. That... and the fact that Cortana was screaming over his internal comm. systems that he couldn't kill this creature because it was a possessed human.

Still though, the Elite before him was covered in some sort of strange ceremonial armor. He held his hands aloft, pointing his weapon away from the Master Chief. Behind this Elite was a cohort of fellow Elites... three Golds and eight regular forces.

Four of the Elites were of a kind John had never seen before – they were not as tall as the other warriors. Two were dressed in the gold armor of a high ranking Elite; but their armor was even more fluid and graceful than the others… curved… 'Female' John thought, and just like that he noticed a similarity to his own species that made him think twice. They had females – women… and such meant that… 'No…' John told himself sternly. He knew that he could not _humanize_ these monsters. The dead deserved better than that.

Behind the small gathering of Elites, cowering and occasionally muttering a fearful "it's the Demon!" were a dozen grunts. In the distance, four hunters kept a silent vigil, their armored carapaces shimmering in the dim light, their fuel-rod weapons searching for targets in the twilight.

Floating next to the Elite in ceremonial armor was something John never wanted to see again - 343 Guilty Spark. And it was tied to the Arbiter by some form of energy thread.

"Reclaimers Everywhere! Oh this is Joyous! The Alterians have survived... and even thrived, primitive though they may be... but still! And the Ark is still intact, so wonderful!" 

"Silence, Oracle." The ornate Elite ground out, shaking his head as though he needed a painkiller. He fixed his focus on the demon... the Master Chief before him - "I know they call your kind 'Spartan'" He said in a gravelly voice. "I am the Arbiter. The Oracle has guided us here, and told us of the darkness surrounding this place. He has also told us that the Holy Rings that exist here are not corrupted by the parasite and of the history that occurred after our memories end. He has also informed us that you, as strange as it may seem, are from a time before we first met as allies."

John balked at that – much of what he had heard being wiped away at the rage of this creature considering itself to be an 'ally'. "I'd never trust the Covenant. You glassed entire worlds, sent billions of souls on to meaningless death... You gave no quarter... accepted no surrender. You simply killed... I ought to..." He lifted his weapon again towards the Arbiter. The soldiers behind him tensed.

"Chief!" Cortana yelled. "Chief, I'm ordering you to stand down. They are... were human."

"This covenant scum is trying to trick..."

"He has the superior force. If he had wanted to, you'd have been dead already." Cortana informed him. 

Indeed, when the Arbiter had first appeared, it seemed as though Covenant were pouring from all directions. But the Arbiter had gathered them, and signaled his surrender.

However, Guilty Spark had finally noticed Cortana, "It's you! The Construct. You should surrender the Index!"

Cortana replied on the chief's external speakers, "Never you overgrown excuse for a light bulb. You think I'm going to let you wipe out all life in the galaxy? Think again!"

"I would never activate the Weapon here - the proper protocols do not exist! There is no Flood parasite here, the Alterians never created it. Here the Facilities are merely gateways to other galaxies, while their primary function still exists; there is no reason for me to activate it." Guilty Spark redirected his speech, "Reclaimer, you must convince the construct to return the Index to me! The Index can be used to activate the weapon, and only I have the proper protocols to ensure that the Index is handled correctly and the weapon is activated for the proper reasons. The Index is especially dangerous here, upon the Ark."

The Arbiter blinked, "Why is it so dangerous here?"

Guilty Spark swiveled to face the Arbiter, "I do not answer inquiries about secured functional protocol from client races: I serve the Alterians."

The chief grumbled, "So why is it so dangerous here?"

Guilty Spark turned to the Master Chief and with a happy voice proclaimed, "Why because it can restart the Genesis protocols! It could cause the reseeding of life throughout the galaxy. It is, after all, the Ark's primary function!"

"What's its secondary function?" Master Chief asked.

"Why to fire the Weapon, of course." Guilty Spark said happily. "It is so good to be in your presence again Reclaimer. I hope that we can put that little misunderstanding back on Installation 04 behind us now. After all I was only following protocol in the case of a Flood escape."

Cortana whispered into John's ear, "I think Guilty Spark's a few circuits shy of a processor. Giving up the Index is not something I plan on doing."

"I agree." John whispered back, the low voice not activating the external mikes. "Can we trust this... Arbiter?"

Cortana thought for a moment, then contacted her other self. The other Master Chief was making his way here, but there were hostiles between them and him. "Chief, I don't think we have a choice. We can't kill them... not when they're most likely possessed humans."

John looked up at the towering form of the Arbiter, "So, any clue of who you possessed?"

The Arbiter relaxed a bit, pointing his weapon towards the ground. "For a few moments the body I was in was human... then I felt great pain - pain such as a thousand laser lashes tearing at my form. Suddenly there was peace, and I discovered that the Oracle was joined to me by an energy chain - a device controlled by my armor.

"Touching the mind within me has been difficult. It is being assaulted by my memories. They are somewhat... unpleasant." The Arbiter admitted. "Beyond his name, which is Andrew, I know very little." The Arbiter looked at his wrist and the strange device that bound the Oracle to him as though the answer to all his problems lay there. He realized that there were no answers there, and his silence would do nothing to endear the Spartan to him. With a sigh he began speaking again.

"We found the acts of violence perpetrated by the Prophets to be as heinous and repulsive as you. Unfortunately, the Prophets' dominion over the Covenant is absolute. When we resisted... they destroyed our ships, and our cities," With a meaningful and weary pause, he struggled a bit to continue, "and our families as punishment. Still, we fought on the side of the Terrans - Sangheili, Unggoy, and Lekgolo all fought to try to stem the tide of death and destruction wrought by the Prophets and their Jiralhanae vassals.

"It was not enough. The last thing I remember... was placing myself at the mercy of your government. Despite my promises... they executed me on site. From what the Oracle told me, humanity fought bravely to prevent the onslaught...

"They failed." The Arbiter sighed and slumped. Somehow the revelation – the simple telling of the story was draining yet cathartic for him, "However you did not. You gave your life... your world gave its life, to ensure that all other life in the universe continued on. According to the Oracle, you activated the rings in such a way as to destroy the Flood... not the sentient life forms in the galaxy."

Guilty Spark swiveled to look off in the distance at the approaching Spartan, "Indeed, Reclaimer. Your sacrifice sadly destroyed the Flood, the greatest Alterian weapon ever devised. But the universe survived - and in time, your name was called from the highest towers and steeples of the worlds as the Savior. By the time my singularity had evaporated, no name was known more in the universe than yours, John 117." Guilty Spark ignored the groan of discontent from the troubled warrior, "In fact, upon Reach there is a two hundred meter tall statue erected in your honor!" Guilty Spark was confused when the notification of galactic fame simply caused John to growl darkly. Still it didn't matter, as the other Spartan had arrived. 

Guilty Spark swiveled around and looked at the gathering. He noted the Arbiter and the energy thread that tied him to the device on his wrist. While it could serve as a 'leash', its energies were easily countered by his own gravimetric fields. "Now that we are all reunited, we must assist those in need." Guilty Spark snapped the connection between himself and the Arbiter with a simple reflex of energy as the other Master Chief came to a halt beside the younger one. "Quickly, we must prevent the dark spirits from overcoming the dimensional rift and opening it - the results could be as disastrous as activating the Weapon!"

Guilty Spark shot off into the night, his glow trailing behind. "Quickly now, we've not much time! There are protocols to be followed!"

Both Master Chiefs looked at each other, and seemed to slump. "Right..." They both said at the same time. The younger one, the one who had heard the Arbiter's story first hand, turned to him. "Come on, we'll need all the help we can get."

---

Yoda had battled his way into the building through dozens of corrupted undead. All the time being followed by a shell-shocked Willow.

Willow watched as the Jedi master wielded her body like a weapon, literally bouncing off of walls, and even the ceiling once or twice. Each aerial twist and roll brought with it final death to the undead foes who attempted to impede their progress towards the Library of the school.

Willow had, over the span of the last hour, watched her body change. Thankfully not into the tiny green Jedi she remembered from the movies - but in slightly more subtle ways. Although subtle was hardly how she'd describe her body's rather rapid physical development. She was, after all, never an 'athletic' person. Not that she was completely out of shape or anything like that, but she wasn't one of those muscular females. She wasn't even to Buffy's level of athletic build – which, despite her slayer strength, wasn't much more than the average almost-anorexic cheerleader.

Now, though, she noticed her body developing muscles. Muscles that grew sharper in tone and definition - like some freakish body builder. 'Please, goddess, don't let me turn into a muscle-bound freak,' she begged any higher power that might be able to listen. Already the few traces of baby-fat her face had possessed were gone, becoming almost elf-like and narrow. 'Gods above,' she thought as she got a glimpse of her ears as her hair flew in odd directions, 'My ears are becoming pointy.'

The Jedi Master had complained about how poorly she maintained her body and was obviously making 'slight' changes to it. She watched as the Jedi Master flexed those newly growing muscles in ways she could barely contemplate.

And all the while the Jedi Master lectured her about the Jedi way, "Athletics, child, important this is." He slashed through a vampire, "Remember, sound body, sound mind, a sound Jedi you will be." Another vampire dusted as Yoda Force threw it into a wall and completely shattered its skeletal structure. "Healthy! Remember this always. Do this for you to waste, I do not!"

A vampire went to bite Willow, but its fangs and body just fell through her. A second later the Jedi had slashed through the Vamp's neck, dusting it. "And patience! You must learn Patience! Rush too much you do, you think your intelligence enough! BAH! Patience and Control, or a Sith you will become!" 

Another vampire tried to jump the physical Willow, being decapitated by the swiftly moving Jedi. "When nine hundred years old you reach, expect you to be as good as a Jedi as I am, I do." 

Willow didn't even want to contemplate reaching nine-hundred years. It hadn't worked out so well for Yoda, after all. How many of his apprentices fell to the dark side in that time? How many friends were lost? Yoda may be able to accept their passing with nary a shrug, but she was a passionate person.

During a lull in the fighting, Yoda contemplated his latest charge, "Young Willow…" He said, in a surprisingly gentle voice. "Mourned the loss of my friends, I did. For a long time I felt the pain of their absence. In time, my powers… grow they did. See friends long since passed into the Force and learned that the flesh is transient." He paused looking into her eyes, "Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. Afraid I am that time is the only teacher on this subject that I can provide, young Willow." Yoda felt several more vampires approach. "Know this in time, you will." And with that he was in the fight once more.

As they approached the doors to the Library, Yoda paused, "Many Sith I sense within. But this is not the source of the chaos... although it is connected here." Yoda looked at Willow, "Know you someone who might help?" 

"Giles..." Willow started.

"These costumes... the key to this puzzle they are. Find this Giles. Tell him from where you got this. Know the answer he will, or all may be lost." Yoda said.

Willow nodded and began to run away. 

"Willow!" Yoda shouted to the young redhead, "Free you are, your mind. Let go your preconceptions. Distance only as far as your mind makes it. If know your destination in your mind, halfway there you already are."

Willow nodded for a moment. Then she began to concentrate - trying to feel the flow of space-time around her, the way Yoda did. To her surprise she easily found the energies.

With a smile, Willow vanished.

Yoda nodded in approval. "So sad these things that must be." He turned to the doors, and with a push of the Force, entered into the fray with the dark Sith Lords versus the noble Jedi Knights. 

---

"Quickly now! We must make it to the rift!" Guilty Spark proclaimed, leading them down yet another vampire and transformed-human infested street.

The younger Master Chief let out a three round burst catching a Vampire in the knee. A second later, John drove home his make-shift stake. "Easy for him to say, he doesn't have to go through town on foot."

A group of controlled plasma bursts cast out over the vampires. Each bolt that struck a vampire reduced it to dust with ease.

"I've got to admit, Chief, those guys are coming in handy." Cortana noted as the group of Elites and grunts moved from building to building with military precision. The hunters simply marched up the street, daring something to get in their way. So far the only stupid demonic residents to take up such a challenge had been the Vampires. Needless to say, there was much dust left in the Lekgolos' path. 

After the last vampire was dusted, and the transformed humans run off or rendered unconscious - the Arbiter came up to the younger Master Chief. "That building..." he said, his eyes narrowing, "I sense a taint coming from it. It is the taint of chaos."

The chief watched as the others continued on towards their destination. After a few moments John came to a conclusion. "Help them. I've got the feeling that they'll need it more than me."

The Arbiter argued, "You need someone to 'watch your back'... I could stay..."

John shook his head, "Your people need you... and I need them. The other me is walking towards hell on Earth. Keep the other 'me' safe... and that will go a long way to convincing me that not all Covenant are evil."

The Arbiter nodded and ran into the distance.

The Master Chief looked up at the building before him. "Ethan's" he growled out. Well... if this 'Ethan' was the reason that he was possessing two bodies tonight, then he hoped this 'Ethan' had purchased health insurance.

---

"Giles!" Willow exclaimed.

The quietly slumbering man suddenly shot awake, drool trailing from his lip to his arm. "W...Willow, what on Earth..."

"No time. People have been changed into their costumes. It's some sort of chaos energy. There's so much wigginess out there - and I'm a GHOST! And my body is being possessed by YODA! And he's doing wiggy things with it like jumping off the walls and ceilings while dusting vamps! And he's making me muscle-y Giles!" In a small voice she said, "I don't wanna be muscley."

Suddenly Giles took off his glasses and started polishing them, "Willow, calm down. You said people were being turned into their costumes. Was everyone turned into their costumes?"

"No... We ran into Harmony... she was out looking for Cordelia... and she wasn't changed by her cat-suit. She was spilling about how lucky she was having slipped the guy at Party Town an extra fifty to give her the suit rather than give it to the person who reserved it." Willow said in a rush.

"Ok... so obviously not everyone. But you changed... so where did you get your... costume?"

"Oh... that new place: Ethan's!" Willow said enthusiastically.

Willow eeped as she watched some darkness cast over Rupert Giles. "Ethan... you say." Willow wanted to run and hide from this thing surfacing in their normally uptight and restrained librarian, teacher and mentor. She felt the Dark Side swirl around him.

"Yeah... Rain... or Rayne... or something." Willow muttered out. She felt the darkness in Giles rise exponentially.

"Yes. I'd imagine it was." Giles said almost in a trance, the last few words forced out between clenched teeth. He went to his personal weapons stash and drew out two very sharp and deadly looking curved daggers. The dark smile on his face at the sight of the weapons was almost demonic.

The Dark Side was a black flame surrounding the normally calm Englishman. "Giles, you're starting to scare me." Willow said with a shudder. 'Goddess, what… how did this come to be within our Giles?' She thought.

Giles looked over at Willow, and for a moment had a look of sadness in his face, "Don't worry, young Willow. Stay here. Things will be better soon." 

---

Author's Notes: Well, I took a look at this chapter and made a few modifications and expansions. I hope everything makes sense. I found it interesting to note that Guilty Spark never mentioned the name of the race for the Forerunner in Halo. Considering the Forerunner's obvious penchant for building large things that last a really long time allowed me to call them the Alterians (Who also have a penchant for building massive structures that stand the test of time). 

Thanks for the reviews. As for Carter merging with Seven of Nine… The thought had crossed my mind, but I didn't want to deal with adding the potential of Borg issues… at least not here. And I wanted to keep some of the costume pairings ambiguous so that there were _some_ surprises in the chapters. I'm aware that Spike and Dru dressing up are quite out of cannon – but it will be explained at the end (As endings are very good times for explanations). As for Padme looking like a Mary-Sue… Padme is very strong willed (and this version is a bit arrogant), especially considering who she's paired with. Let's just say she's good, but not quite as good as she thinks she is. And she's certainly no better than the other characters.

I think I'll be posting the next segment shortly. I had been working on some side stories to go along with this, and if they keep on going at this pace, I'll feel more comfortable posting parts faster. 

Thanks and enjoy,  
P.V.


	4. Covenant, Jedi, and Chaos Mages: Oh My!

Chaos Theory - Day Zero Part Four. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Stargate SG-1/Star Wars/Star Trek/Halo/Lord of the Rings Crossover...

---

Title: Chaos Theory: Day Zero  
Rating: PG-13 - Language and Violence.  
Genre: Crossover  
Author: PitViper  
Date (Part Four): 2006-10-15  
Summary: This is a BtVS/SG-1/SW/ST/LotR/Halo crossover. Based on the Halloween costume episode. Very AU. Buffy and the gang get Halloween costumes... and SG-1 arrives in Sunnydale to observe the evening... in costume as well. Needless to say, chaos theory is in full effect...

Disclaimer: I don't own it, wish I did. I'm not making any money off of it – so please don't sue me. BtVS is the property of Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. Star Wars is owned by George Lucas. Stargate SG-1 belongs to Double Secret Productions and Sci-Fi channel. Lord of the Rings is the property of J.R.R. Tolkien and his family. Halo is owned by Bungie. And Star Trek is the property of Paramount Pictures (Who obviously understand nothing about Gene's vision of the future). 

---

**Chaos Theory: Day Zero  
Part Four: "Covenant, Jedi, and Chaos Mages: Oh My!"  
**  
Ethan Rayne watched as the chaos descended upon the town, enjoying the fruits of his labors. And his source for those costumes! He had so many high-level costumes that he could outfit the entire town as Darth Vader, Palpatine, or any number of other characters. A shame he had to dispose of such quality merchandise, but he certainly wouldn't dare reuse these items after tonight – Especially if he considered the questionable nature and the source of some of his costumes. He was certain that someone from the Skywalker ranch or Twentieth Century Fox was going to be reporting a mass theft of Star Wars related items. Still though, this night was amazing. He looked at the brightly glowing statue of Janus - the spell that transformed people was tied to it. 'Odd, though, it never glowed like that before.' He thought.

Then again, he had never had a success this great before. All the previous times he had managed to transform one or two square blocks at most - and the results were often less than entertaining.

But here! He had transformed all the enspelled costumes in the _entire_ town! Janus would be indeed satisfied with this outcome, he was sure. He had even transformed vampires – granted they were vampires who had stolen some of the more questionable merchandise from a dumpster behind his building before he had a chance to burn it. Still though, to transform the undead, in a town with a Hellmouth... It was an amazing accomplishment. 

As his monitoring moved throughout the transformed town, he noticed that the younger Master Chief was outside his store. 'Well, well, the prodigal son returns.' he thought wryly.

With a swift kick the front door was ripped from its moorings - and sent flying into the store. The Spartan methodically marched towards the back room, straight for his location. His bootsteps crunched against the shattered glass and remenants of costumes that had remained unsold. 'Must be Cortana and the suit's sensors picking up my life signs.' Rayne thought briefly.

Soon the Spartan had opened the door to the back room. Actually, 'opened' didn't begin to describe what the Spartan had done to the simple wooden obstacle. Despite the shattered remnants of the door, Ethan stood there - smiling lightly holding a metal-like cylinder in his hands. "Good show, I must say young man. But, not good enough..."

"What are you..." Master Chief said a moment before the man had chucked the device at him. Thinking it was a pipe bomb, John had intentions of sending it right back at him.

As the cylinder entered the Chief's hands, Cortana screamed: "Chief Don't!"

It was too late as the Chaos Spell enraptured the young man yet again.

Ethan looked at his handiwork, and fingered the other three items on his person. - two of which were lightsabers and one which was... an odd dagger of sorts. He looked with almost-sadness at the young soldier. "Don't worry, I'm sure Young Anakin will help you out, John." 

Without waiting for the Master Chief's body to recover, Ethan walked calmly out the door and into the store itself, carrying the glowing bust of Janus with him.

---

Willow decided to return to the Library after notifying Giles. She was greatly disturbed by the darkness she sensed flooding into her teacher and mentor. If he had been a force-sensitive, she was sure that he would have been at least a dark Jedi, if not a full-on Sith Lord. 'What kind of past did he have that he could channel such hatred and malice?' She thought, as she focused on returning to the Library. Still, she knew that he wouldn't go too far down the dark path. The fury she felt within him was old – buried under years of regret and atonement. She trusted the Watcher to be able to pull back before he was too far gone down the path of the Dark Side.

When she appeared in the center of the library area, she found herself in the middle of a Jedi vs. Sith war. She watched in awe as Yoda wielded her body like a homing missile – flying from one enemy to another. He was engaged with at least one Palpatine, four Vaders, a female Sith and a hulking male Sith. A slash of the green weapon reduced the number of Vaders in the fray by one. The acrobatic Jedi had changed her body significantly. It was easy to see that he was taking full advantage of the youth she possessed, since so many Sith were lying in pieces near his area of activity.

She looked around and suddenly her eyes stopped on another individual. "Cordelia?" She squeaked out, as she watched the cheerleader twirl her light saber. For a moment she glanced back, then returned to the fight as another opponent came slashing in. With a simple press of a button, Cordelia's blade-handle extended another ten inches, and a second blade ignited. Willow stared in awe of how she handled the double-bladed weapon.

Padme snapped her head back towards the center of the room trying to understand how this individual knew her body's name. Fortunately Willow was in the middle, where Doctor Crusher was tending to whatever wounded staggered in from the fighting. 'So this is the 'ghost' that Yoda told us about...' Unable to think more, she turned back to her opponents - One Darth Vader, the other a somewhat familiar Zabrek that went by the name of Maul. 

Willow shook her head free of the sight of Cordelia fighting the Sith, and looked around as she observed the rest of the scene. As she stretched out with her ever-growing Force-sense, she discovered that vampires and demons by the hundreds... no maybe even thousands were trying to make it to their location. It was like every vampire for a hundred miles was drawn to the Hellmouth for this battle.

She saw a middle-aged blonde taking careful aim down one of the corridors - her weapon pulsing out a slender orange-red beam that caught the occasional transformed human and knocked them down. With the Force she could sense that the humans were only stunned. She only hoped that they stayed that way for the duration of the battle.

For the others - there were dozens of Halo characters firing their plasma weapons at the approaching hordes. There were hundreds of grey dust piles in the hallway leading to the library as a testament to the effectiveness of the covenant plasma weapons.

"Are you injured?" Doctor Crusher asked.

Willow looked at the woman before her, "No... I was turned into a ghost by my costume." She admitted. "Fortunately my body isn't lying around somewhere, considering the number of Vampires roaming around. This is all so strange."

"I've seen stranger." Crusher said with a smile. "So you can't touch anything?" 

"Not a thing." Willow replied.

"Damn, could have used some help. They're good," She indicated the combatants protecting the inner circle, "but eventually against these kind of numbers..." She shook her head.

Suddenly another blond woman came stumbling through Willow. "Got me." She squeaked out, a blackened burn below her lower rib cage. She collapsed to her knees as the pain became too much.

"Buffy?" Willow asked, barely recognizing the sweaty young woman.

Siri shook her head, "That's this body's name. I'm Siri Tachi." She looked at Crusher who was already pulling out one of her miracle devices. None of them would have lasted much longer had she not shown up.

Crusher inspected the cauterized gash created by a lucky saber strike. She immediately pulled out a hypo spray. "This will keep you from going into shock." She injected it into her neck.

Almost immediately Siri felt the pain diminish and her head clear.

"You're already healing at an extraordinary rate... just give me a second and I'll speed it along even further." Crusher said, selecting a tissue regenerator.

Willow watched and interjected, "She's the slayer. She heals at a much faster rate, and has the strength of ten men."

The doctor looked up at her, then back to her patient as she ran the regenerator over the wound. Crusher was forever grateful that she had a combat medkit with her. Within seconds the wound was gone and there was no indications of it having ever been there - not even a scar. Crusher smiled, and selected another Hypo ampoule. "This is tri-ox compound. It will allow your blood to hyper oxygenate..." She said, injecting it into her arm.

Suddenly Siri felt revitalized, "Thank you, healer." She said respectfully. Siri rose from her position on the ground, and executed a short bow to the doctor. Then she looked around the battlefield, and sighed as she noticed Obi-wan in a battle with three Darth Vader's and a female Sith. "Time to rejoin the fight."

Doctor Crusher winced as the Jedi dove into the battle. "It's only going to get worse from here. The regenerator can do amazing things, but the newly repaired muscles and tissues are sensitive for several days. And if its bone, there's always a chance that too much pressure can re-break it, making it harder to regenerate the next time." She sighed as she spoke to her ghostly companion, "Normally, with injuries like those, I'd have wanted to keep her in sick bay for at least eight hours." 

---

"Chief... come on Chief... don't do this to me!" Cortana yelled.

"Who...Who is this chief that you keep on blathering about?" Came the voice from the new host. "I'm Anakin... not 'Chief'."

Cortana sighed electronically, "Ok, laser-sword boy. Here's the deal. There's this guy. He's causing chaos. He has this glowing statue that we have to get a hold of. And when he tossed you that laser-sword you're holding in your right hand, your consciousness leaped into a 17 year old kid and supplanted Master Chief John 117's personality. You are in a body that has been turned into a Spartan II - enhanced with all kinds of nano-tech and cybernetics in the attempt to create the perfect soldier. This armor that you are wearing was specially designed for you. And if my readings are correct, your presence has transformed a significant portion of this kid's mitochondria into some sort of mutant strain - that if I read this properly, is capable of tapping into a bio-ethereal energy field created by living things. Sound familiar?"

"I think you are talking about Midiclorians." The Jedi said, getting a feel for the armor and his new body. "They are what allow a Jedi to forge a link with the Force." Anakin muttered in Huttese, and then said, "I feel like a Mandlorian in this."

Cortana scanned her historical database. Sure enough, there were the "Star Wars" references. With a sigh, she spoke, "Ok Anakin. My name's Cortana. I'm a United Nations Space Command Smart Artificial Intelligence attached to the Office of Naval Intelligence or ONI for short." She paused for several seconds for that to sink in. Occasionally, she wished that more people in the world spoke Japanese - because "Oni" usually refers to something or someone demonic. With a tinge of regret she began to speak again, "In other words, an AI. Don't make the mistake of thinking I'm like the Droids in your universe. Right now, our mission is to protect this planet - Terra... Earth... and that protection comes in the form of stopping the man with the glowing statue. Capeish?"

"What is 'Capeish'?"

"Damn, I've been hanging around Master Chief too long - Let's just go get the bad guy, Ok?" 

Anakin couldn't help but smile, "But of course, my electronic lady friend. Do you know which way he went?" 

Suddenly a HUD appeared within the visor - "Follow the arrows... he's still on my sensors."

---

Ethan had almost made it to his car, but was interrupted by a left hook from Ripper. "Jolly good to see you, Ripper. Been too long," Ethan said after a few moments, rubbing his sore jaw and infinitely glad he was able to hold onto the bust of Janus.

Giles noted the glowing bust of Janus, "How do you stop it Ethan?" 

Ethan grabbed the dagger from his pocket, but it was immediately swept away by Giles' foot. "Damn..." He said. He laid the statue to the side of him. "Come on Rupe? Where's your sense of adventure? Surely you're not so enamored with that Watcher thing of yours that you'd begrudge me a bit of fun?" 

"This isn't fun Ethan, this is deadly Chaos - and many innocents are caught in it!" Giles growled out one more time, pulling a curved dagger from his belt, "One last time Ethan, how do I stop the spell."

"Here..." he said, grabbing a lightsaber, "I've tied the spell to this, all you have to do is hold it and I'll say the dispelling incantation over the bust."

Slowly he handed the saber to Giles, who looked at it oddly, "What is..."

"Janus! Carpe Noctum!" He yelled, as a burst of energy came from the bust and threw the man backward about ten feet.

Ethan felt the burn as Janus possessed the older man. Re-incantation of the spell was certainly not recommended in the original instructions - but he needed to do something. Even though the Master Chief was affected without the incantation, Rupert being outside the spell made it so he had to redo the last part of it. "Sorry, Rupert. I want to see this night through." Just as he went to pick up the statue though, it levitated out of his reach. "What..."

The Anakin possessed Master Chief - who was really Xander Harris - was smirking behind his mask as he grabbed the statue.

In the distance, a lightsaber ignited. Its green glow illuminating the darkness a bit.

"Now that wasn't very nice." the spirit possessing Giles said - looking at the Chaos mage.

The Anakin-possessed Master Chief looked over at the Jedi. He could sense his force signature. "Q...Qui-Gon?"

Qui-Gon Jinn looked over at the armored Jedi. "Ani?" He said, rushing up to the other man. 'So many things to say, so much to do... how can I tell him... how can I help him?' Qui-gon thought to himself. 

Anakin, for his part, tucked the bust into the crook of his arm, and removed his helmet.

Qui-Gon looked at the young man. "I would have thought you knew better than to inhabit a stranger's body."

Anakin chuckled, "I could say the same of you, Master." He sighed, "It's been so long." 

"And I've some very important things to say to you, my former not-so-padawan padawan." His eyes drifted over to the chaos mage, who appeared to be thinking of an escape plan. "But first... we have some things to deal with – Such as discovering how to return the proper owners of these bodies to their rightful places."

"Don't know what you're talking about, Mate." Ethan said, perking up at the pointed stare he was receiving from Rupert's possessed body. "I'm just an innocent bystander in all this. Not a clue as to what is going on." Ethan Rayne eyed the statue as he gripped the lightsaber in his pocket. 'They can't figure out that smashing the bust will stop the spell... chaos needs to run its course - or I'll get one hell of a backlash.' 

Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow, shocked at both the sheer power and the lack of mental protection this person possessed. He was hoping that he could steer the conversation with this individual towards revealing how to undo what was done, but he was able to sense his surface thoughts so clearly that the answer was already there. "Anakin. Remember the Living Force – root yourself in the here-and-now. Don't lose yourself in the future-dreams brought about by the Force. Some prophesies are self-fulfilling."

Anakin cocked his head to the side at the strange change of subject. "What... my dreams about Padme?"

"Yes, young one. Always keep this in your mind, Anakin - There is no dark, there is no light. There is only the Force and what you _choose_ to do with it. The Sith are not more powerful than the Jedi. And I have it, on very good authority, that should you follow Palpatine, you'll bring about the death you saw in your dreams. For he is the one manipulating the Force to make Padme die."

Anakin's eyes grew wide... 'It was impossible, wasn't it?' Palpatine had encouraged him, nurtured him. Helped him to become a better person – a better Jedi. They even thought alike, knowing that peace is difficult to maintain without force to back it up. "Qui-Gon... he... he is my friend!"

Qui-Gon had a sad look in his eye, "Padme is the exception... as a rule the Jedi perception of politicians is usually accurate - much to my dismay. Just remember, don't give in to your anger. That leads to the darkness within." With a final pointed look at Ethan, he turned his attention fully towards Anakin. "Now toss me that statue, would you?"

At the same time that the statue became airborne, Qui-Gon Jinn ignited his lightsaber...

And Ethan Rayne pulled out the model lightsaber in his pocket intending to use it as a weapon to knock out the possessed Watcher.

A heartbeat before Ethan's improvised bludgeon could hit the Jedi - the Jedi Master's lightsaber passed through the bust, filling it with tremendous amounts of energy. The blast picked up Ethan, Anakin and Qui-Gon, throwing them back from the epicenter.

As Ethan traveled through the air, he was possessed momentarily by the spirit of the lightsaber he held - a young Twi'lek Jedi knight... a well endowed female Twi'lek who had just passed the trials. His body, became her body, a moment before the consciousness was pulled from him.

His body however remained that of the Twi'lek, with all its female attributes.

---

Author's Notes: I hope you enjoy this installment as much as I've enjoyed writing it. I've gotten so very few reviews though – I'm hoping that this is worthy of being continued as a series. Plus I know I'm far from perfect, so if you have any criticisms, corrections, or suggestions, I'm more than willing to listen.

Later,  
PitViper


	5. Just When You Think It's All Over

Chaos Theory - Day Zero Part Five. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Stargate SG-1/Star Wars/Star Trek/Halo/Lord of the Rings Crossover...

---

Title: Chaos Theory: Day Zero  
Rating: PG-13 - Language and Violence.  
Genre: Crossover  
Author: PitViper  
Date (Part Five): 2006-10-29  
Summary: This is a BtVS/SG-1/SW/ST/LotR/Halo crossover. Based on the Halloween costume episode. Very AU. Buffy and the gang get Halloween costumes... and SG-1 arrives in Sunnydale to observe the evening... in costume as well. Needless to say, chaos theory is in full effect... 

Disclaimer: I don't own it, wish I did. I'm not making any money off of it – so please don't sue me. BtVS is the property of Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. Star Wars is owned by George Lucas. Stargate SG-1 belongs to Double Secret Productions and Sci-Fi channel. Lord of the Rings is the property of J.R.R. Tolkien and his family. Halo is owned by Bungie. And Star Trek is the property of Paramount Pictures (Who obviously understand nothing about Gene's vision of the future).

---

**Chaos Theory: Day Zero  
Part Five: "Just When You Think It's All Over..."  
**  
The female Anakin had finally had enough - and joined the fight on the side of the Jedi.

To say that the combatants were shocked was similar to saying that Antarctica was cold - needless to say, the moment she had made up her mind to join the fight on the side of Light, she was welcomed by the Jedi and their companions.

She had just finished defeating one of her shadows - a possessed Darth Vader - when she felt the Force sing to her. She looked to Padme, who was fighting next to her. "It's going to end soon." She said.

Padme smiled at her. She was exhausted. This battle - this fight... it was exhilarating - but she was at her limits. She had killed several of the Vader possessed vampires. Her emotions were at war with her heart, and she could feel herself weakening. Just when she thought her heart would collapse from having to kill her husband so many times - a burst of energy would come from the trapped spirit of Cordelia - and she would pick up the fight again. The spirit of this shell was strong - and she didn't want to die. Something that Padme could understand.

She smiled at the female that Anakin had possessed. She had started the evening as a Sith... but now... now she was on the side of light. 

Anakin smiled back for a few seconds, as she felt the spell's energy begin to surge. "It will be..."

She was cut off with a gasp, as a red lightsaber emerged from her abdomen. 

Padme gasped as she saw the pain reflected in the possessed Anakin's eyes. The bleach-blonde Palpatine sneered.

"Pitiful weak fool!" The creature spat, "No one betrays me!" 

Just then, a wave of power washed over all of them. 

---

Padme allowed the energy to wash over her, to let it cleanse her mind from the shell and release her from this existence. She knew she would leave behind her abilities and memories.

She watched as Palpatine struggled against the spirit that owned his form. He hadn't wanted to leave - that much she was sure of. But she knew that the spell would eventually wash him away, willingly or unwillingly.

Finally she felt the spirit that owned her body. They met in the mindscape for the first time. 

"You're Padme 'Amadala' Naberrie-Skywalker." Cordelia Chase said, somewhat in awe.

Padme smiled with a bit of shyness, "And you're Cordelia Chase. I'm sorry..." 

"Don't apologize... I've got a feeling that I've learned a lot from you, especially on how to be one of the good guys. I know now that the right thing to do is to help Buffy and the others - and thanks to your knowledge, I know how to do that in more ways than one." Cordelia said, walking up to Padme. She embraced the fading spirit. "Plus, thanks to you, I think I know what it means to love and lose... and I know Xander's the one I want to be with."

Padme nodded, "Many of my memories will stay with you. Use them well."

"I will." Cordelia said, without any trace of her cheerleader-uber-bitch personality. "May the Force be with you, Padme."

"And you too, Cordelia." She said, finally fading into the Force. 

---

Throughout the town, most of those changed by the Chaos Spell returned to their normal forms. However, there were a few who retained some if not all of the changes made to them. All the vampires that had been possessed then died turned to dust along with their costumes. Those vampires who had not been killed but were costumed remained alive with some semblance of a soul attached to them.

---

"Dru!" Spike shouted, finally getting control over his body. The first thing he noticed was that he was breathing and had a heartbeat. He didn't think he had his human soul though - no... It was still his demon. But it was changed, more like a human soul. Still...

Drusilla looked up, and chuckled, "Dear William... The stars sang, but you didn't listen." 

Spike looked at the gathered people, most of whom were just pulling themselves off the floor. He only remained standing from sheer will and determination. And now he had this bloody Sith bastard floating in his head.

Finally he locked eyes with the Slayer; who was one of the few who had not collapsed when the spell finally ended. He looked down as she readied her lightsaber which was still ignited. "Bugger!" As much as he wanted to help Drusilla, he knew he could do nothing for her if he was dead.

He ran with all he could, force-leaping up to an open window and scrambling off into the night.

Watching him go, Drusilla collapsed. Angel immediately rushed over, "Dru?"

"It's me... Liam." She said. "The demon's gone... I get to die my death. And enjoy a few... precious minutes of sanity." She smiled up at him. "Don't be sad... you know its better this way..."

"Dru..." Angel started, but was disrupted by the shout behind him.

"Look out!" Came the shout from the short fiery-redheaded Doctor. "Get out of my way." She said, pushing Angel to the side.

Janet Frasier pulled out a hypo-spray that had remained real, and injected it into the young woman. "That should keep you from going into shock." 

Dru nodded as the Doctor pulled out a regenerator. "Such shiny things you... you have." She coughed a little, "Doctors not have these things in my day."

Frasier smiled, "Just you wait, I have a few miracles up my sleeve." She activated the regenerator and watched as the device did its job. The wound and the damage done by it began to heal at an incredible rate.

Meanwhile, Buffy came over to see what was happening. The moment she noticed who the Doctor was treating, a feral growl came from her mouth. "Let her die!"

Angel leaped between them. "The demon's gone Buffy." He said, putting his now warm hands on her shoulders.

Buffy felt his warmth, and his heartbeat, through the touch. "Angel?"

"Yeah... whatever that spell did, it made us alive again. Don't know how... but it did. Soul and all." Angel looked into her eyes. There was a compulsion there - from both his experiences as Angel and as Obi-wan. He knew that Buffy was also dealing with the duality of her memories - and the compulsions that both she and Siri had for Angel and Obi-wan, respectively. Still though, Angel turned his attentions towards Drusilla, as he watched Doctor Frasier work frantically on the former vampire.

After ten minutes of work, Frasier finally looked up, "She's going to be ok. I gave her a mild sedative." She said, looking around at the battlefield. "What the hell happened?"

"Some sort of 'Chaos Spell'" Teal'c rumbled. "The spirit that had possessed DanielJackson had said so."

Janet's eyes widened, "Spells... you mean Magic?"

"Duh." Buffy announced, glancing over towards the bookshelves. She concentrated for a second and a book came flying over to her hands. She handed the book out to Frasier, "Here. Since you're here in SunnyHell you should know what you're up against."

Janet stood amazed, as she looked down at the book entitled 'Vampyres'. She shook her head, "Telekinesis?"

Buffy nodded slightly, "Sorta. I've got Siri Tachi in my head."

"SiriTachi is a Jedi from the Extended Universe." Teal'c said, his face thoughtful. "She was the love interest of Obi Wan Kenobi." Teal'c was proud of his knowledge of Star Wars. However, with Mace Windu's knowledge within him, he felt he was now twice the warrior. 

"Carter!" Jack bellowed, having taken off his helmet.

Suddenly Frasier had leaped up, book forgotten and her medical case in hand, heading over to the shout.

There was Samantha Carter. A few scorch marks on her uniform from the fighting, but otherwise intact.

"I can't wake her up Janet." Jack said with near-panic in his voice. "She's not answering me. She's not even breathing for Christ-sake." 

Pulling out the tricorder Janet scanned the young woman. She looked at the readings and wanted to scream. "God! She's still part Android!"

"Colonel!" Came a shout from the forgotten Spartan helmet.

Janet looked over at the helmet, as Jack picked it up. "Cortana?" He asked.

"Still here, sir." the AI said. "Give me a shot, Colonel. If she's part-android I can get in there and maybe pull her out of whatever cyber-hell she's in."

"Colonel, I don't think..." Janet started, but was interrupted when Jack started to speak to the helmet.

"Cortana, if you screw this up..." 

Cortana chuckled, "Your concern for my welfare is touching, flyboy. Now let us girls have some quality time..." The voice redirected its question, "Ok... Frasier, right?" 

Janet nodded. "Yes..."

"You got anything I can use as a transmitter or uplink that can access Major Carter's cyber-net here?"

Janet thought for a second, "The tricorder. Data's tricorder. It has the computer, radio and subspace uplinks attached that can act as an intermediary between you and her."

"Can I access your tricorder as well?" Cortana asked. "It's a medical device; therefore it might have information that will allow me to help her better. She is a cyborg, correct?"

Janet nodded. Then realized that Cortana probably couldn't 'see' her. "Yes."

"Good." Cortana said, then concentrated on uplinking with the devices. "Set the tricorder to receive and transmit on frequency 2975.68 MHz." 

Janet grabbed the tricorder from Data's belt, and made some adjustments. "Done."

"Now, Colonel, Put the helmet back on your head. I need the suit's generators and transceivers for this."

"Okiedokie." O'Neill said, putting the helmet on.

"Ok, Doctor, now link your tricorder to the Major's." Cortana instructed. The doctor took a second and the uplink was established, "Good." Cortana said. Then within the helmet she said, "Wish me luck, Flyboy." 

"I should have never told you I was in the Air Force." Jack chuckled, "Be careful in there, Carter's mind is a little on the wild side."

"Don't worry Jack. We'll both be back from this." Cortana said, "I promise. After all, infiltration is my specialty."

---

"Chief?" Cortana bellowed.

Xander groaned. "What hit me?" 

"Chief, is that you?" Cortana asked again, the helmet off to the side of the boy.

"Chief... no... I'm Xander."

Cortana swore, "Shit. Xander. I'm Cortana. And unless you want to be a bi-pedal MRE you better get this helmet on ASAP."

It only took a half-second for the formerly possessed Spartan II to understand what Cortana was trying to say. As he secured the helmet in place, he looked around. "Giles?" Then he looked at the purple Twi'lek laying in the street. "What the hell?"

"Tendril gal over there was formerly 'Ethan', the bastard Chaos Mage, if what I managed to dig up off of this planet's primitive Internet is correct. I would have expected Interpol to have better protections, even in this day and age - not that it would have helped any." Cortana mused that it was far too simple to hack into the Internet in the short time that Xander had been unconscious - and the things she learned. 'Still,' She thought, 'I shouldn't let my mind wonder like that.' With a sigh she spoke again, "Your friend Giles tried to stop him, but ended up getting tricked into holding that silver laser-sword, like you did." At this Xander looked down and instinctively activated the lightsaber. Cortana continued, "You had been possessed by the character known as Anakin Skywalker, from Star Wars. And evidently, a company named Bungie was creating a chronicle of the Chief's and my experiences with the Halos."

Xander deactivated the saber, hooking it onto his ammo belt. "This is wiggy. I've got both Master Chief's and Anakin's memories sitting up here. But Anakin's are a bit more faded than the Chief's."

"Odd…" Cortana mused. Since the memories were a bit more faded for Anakin than for John's, which meant that the amount of time under the spell had an effect on how much was retained. Of course, it could also be the affect of having a second personality take over. No matter the differences with memory, however, the physical changes showed no signs of fading. "That ain't all you got there, kiddo." Cortana mused. "You are a Spartan now, and a Jedi. The medical nanites picked up the change in your Mitochondria that was probably responsible for a Jedi being able to access the Force. And, obviously, for me to still be here... that means your armor still had to be here, which, by induction, means that all the changes made to you still had to be there... otherwise... no more Xander."

"I need a minute..." Xander said, trying to absorb it all.

"Take your time... But the best you'll be able to do is thirty seconds... Because I'm detecting movement about eight hundred meters north north-west of our position. And they've got air-temp body temperatures, if you catch my meaning." Cortana paused thoughtfully, "So unless you want to see what a Vamp'ed Jedi can do, or have your friend over there become a happy-meal with feet... yes Xander, they still have McDonalds in the twenty-sixth century... I suggest that we wake them up and/or carry them to where the others are at."

"Others?" Xander said, as he began to carefully shake Giles. "What others?" His memories of his actions this evening were still quite hazy, although as more time passed, the easier it became to recall the actions of his possessors. 

"There was another Master Chief. They went with a bunch of Jedi and Covenant to the high school Library, along with 343 Guilty Spark. We really need to get back there; I don't trust that floating psychopathic light bulb farther than you can throw the Autumn."

"Oh... My head..." Giles said, and then looked up at what was shaking him. His heart froze in fear. "Good Lord!" Giles felt that was at least worth one 'Good Lord', after all, how many times does one find themselves being shaken awake by a towering being in green high-tech armor?

"Relax, G-Man. It's just me, with a hitchhiker." Xander said, a bit of a chuckle in his voice.

"My word, Xander?" The man said groggily. "Why do I know Ataru and Djem'So and how to build a lightsaber?"

"You were possessed by the spirit of QuiGon Jinn... A Jedi." Cortana added helpfully. "And I am not a hitchhiker, thank you very much," she said with a touch of a huff.

Suddenly a feminine groan came from the other body, with a rather frail, "Bugger me."

"Can you get up Giles?" Xander asked, as he watched the body shifting in the distance. "I'm afraid that I'm going to have to go and restrain our friendly Chaos Mage over there."

Giles waved Xander off, "Yes, of course. Go ahead and grab the sodding git..." He finally looked over at the woman, "Bugger... that's him...her?"

Xander nodded, as he went over to the young woman. "Ready to get up Rayne, or should I leave you here for the Vamps?"

Frightened eyes glanced up at him, "But... I'm a..." He cupped one of his massive mammaries. "I'm a..."

Xander chuckled, as Giles finally joined him, working out some of the kinks in his neck. Xander finally spoke, "Girl. Yep, that should teach you. Play with fire, eventually you get burnt..."

"And it looks like if you play with chaos, you take the chance of getting breasts." Cortana added helpfully. "Look at it this way, _Ms._ Rayne, Now you get to experience what the other half of the Human race does... that is, of course, unless Twi'lek's are different... which they just might be. But unless you come with us, you'll at best be a meal for one of the dozen or so hungry vamps approaching this area." 

Suddenly looking around, Ethan couldn't locate his only weapon. Fear truly began to creep up his spine.

"Looking for this?" Giles asked sweetly, holding up the other lightsaber. 

Ethan's eyes narrowed. "Please, let me defend myself. You owe me that much, Ripper."

"I don't owe you one bloody thing - except a decent beating. Luckily for you, I don't hit girls." Giles said haughtily, "But I might make an exception in your case."

"We should move guys; I don't want these bloodsuckers getting a scent of us. In our current condition, I don't think we'd make it out." Xander noted. 

"Right" Giles sighed, "Come on, let's go. And behave yourself Ethan. You don't want to know what the government would do to get their hands on a real live alien."

Xander pushed Ethan Rayne in front of him. "Now let's move." 

---

It had taken Cortana just 5.83 milliseconds to enter the Android's positronic matrix. The first thing she noticed was that the capacity of the matrix was huge. It was roomier than the Pillar of Autumn's mainframe. She moved from segment to segment, data stream to data stream, trying to find the reason that the woman android had not yet reactivated.

She began tapping into several neural matrices - trying to find one that would link her with Samantha Carter. None had.

Cortana moved deeper into the archival memories. She looked at various files and hastily written code - code that adapted the original programming of Data to this new body.

After about ten milliseconds of thought, she decided to start perusing the restructured code - looking for something that might point to a reason for Samantha not being revived.

So far she had spent five point three seconds in this realm - for an artificial life form that measured moments in nano-seconds, it was an eternity.

Finally, after an additional four point one seconds, she came across the reboot procedures for the positronic net. As she looked at them, she frowned, and then slapped herself in the head with an electronic hand, "Males - always thinking of themselves first."

After another second and a half, she reprogrammed all the file references to point to samanthacarter.nnf - the massive data store that likely contained the cyberized essence of the Major.

On her way out, she tripped the timer that would reboot the android. She smiled as she made her way out of the brain with 800 milliseconds to spare.

---

"That was a trip." Cortana said to Jack as she finally returned to the confines of the suit's neural net.

Jack blinked, "You're done already?"

"Already?" Cortana huffed, "I'll have you know I never needed to spend more than three seconds in a system to learn everything about it. It took me ten just to figure out what I had to do... Did I mention that that brain of hers is fast? Faster than the Autumn... faster than even the Halo Mainframe."

"She going to be ok?" Jack asked shakily.

Cortana paused for a moment, "She'll be functional again in about... three seconds. Give or take a cycle or two..."

---

As consciousness returned to Sam Carter, the first thing she noticed was that her body felt... weird. Almost as though it wasn't her body... but it was. It had to be her body. After all, if it wasn't her body, then whose body was it?

She went to blink her eyes. The moment she did, she suddenly saw diagnostics scrolling down her vision. 'What the hell?' She thought. She still hadn't noticed the outside world. After all, who would expect blinking one's eyes to bring up a diagnostic?

Suddenly a voice manifested itself in her mind. "Greetings, I am Lieutenant Commander Data. You must be Samantha Carter." The voice said. "I apologize for the situation at hand, but there are certain things you must be made aware of.

"First off," He said, his form coming to light, "Is that your body is now a bio-cybernetic construct along the lines of a Soong-type android..."

For what felt like two hours to Sam Carter, Data went on and on explaining the changes she had experienced, and just how her new body was going to work.

---

Author's Notes: Hope you enjoy this episode. ;) Just to assuage a few fears – 1) I will never write non-canon slash pairings. Willow and Tara might be a possibility, just because it was in the series, but you can forget about Willow and Sam Carter, or Xander and Jack. (shudder) So rule out most F/F and all M/M pairings. I'm bad enough with straight pairings in that when I'm writing a romance of any kind, it literally takes dozens of chapters for any of my character pairings to do any more than kiss. So don't expect much of any heavy romance in the near future. (sorry guys and gals) Although I may give hints. Just remember, nothing I hint at is set in stone. 2) I have this story almost complete – and that almost is just because I usually rewrite some of the chapter before I post. The reason I'm taking two weeks between updates is because I'm working on other stories and such. In fact, I already have another one-shot and three chapters of the next story done.

Finally, I wanted to thank everyone for the reviews. :D It does my ego good to know that there are those out there who find my story passable. :)

Later,  
P.V.


	6. Interlude: The Other Shoe

**Chaos Theory Interlude: The Other Shoe**

Disclaimer: I don't own them. I won't pretend to. I'm just borrowing them for a little foray through the Multiverse. Star Trek belongs to Paramount and Gene Roddenberry. Neon Genesis Evangelion belongs to Gainax and ADV. X-Men belong to Marvel Comics. Star Wars belongs to George Lucas and Twentieth Century Fox. Oh, and Babylon 5 is the property of Babylonian Productions Inc, PTEN, and Warner Bros. Dukes of Hazzard belong to Warner Bros too, I think.

Author's Note: _coughs and gives his best Kosh impersonation_: "Humor, Surprise, Terror… For the future."

---  
**Chaos Theory: Day Zero  
Interlude: "The Other Shoe."  
**  
Perhaps somewhere, out there amongst the countless billions of universes contained within the Multiverse, there are guardians who preserve and protect the knowledge of all who have come and gone. One would think that these beings, whomever or whatever they may be, would most certainly take interest in the events occurring in a relatively mundane corner of the multiverse. A universe that, while slightly more interesting than average, was not completely insane with chaos, war, and other acts that would gather the attentions of such knowledge keepers. Well… it might draw their attentions for a nano-second… until they realized how utterly boring this potpourri universe was compared with the other things that occurred in other universes.

Until Halloween.

Oh the same spell was cast in various other universes, each casting sending up a spike on the radar of the multiversal beings that watched such things. Sometimes a superhero here or there was called – sometimes abilities remained, but more often they did not. Sometimes people lived, more often people died. For the most part, compared to some of the universes out there, it was just a blip. And since most of the universes involved had different rates of time-space flow, these blips were at most a brief distraction from the chaotic destruction happening elsewhere.

After all, how does a few sentient beings being killed through mystical methods compare to an entire universe collapsing because some well meaning scientist decided to see if they could change a few immutable laws of their universe… such as the gravitational constant? Or of someone creating a creature that grew… and didn't stop growing – not even after it had consumed several galaxies in the local super cluster? A creature that was currently continuing to chow down on the other nearby objects at an ever increasing pace? A creature that might eventually threaten the multiverse? It's been said that "when one person dies, it's a tragedy… when a million die – it's a statistic." For these powers that monitor the eternities – they have reams upon reams of statistics on a multi-versal scale… and it is constantly growing. And like some accountants, they don't worry about a couple missing beans as long as there's still plenty left in the bowl. And when you consider that particular bean represents a galaxy the size of the Milky-Way, It's far easier to understand why these beings can show such massive indifference.

No. Sunnydale's Halloween hardly merited a glance – if that – from those who watched the multiverse. Until you found that one universe that just _had_ to go and be different.

Summoning a dozen Jedi definitely started a slight buzzing. But many of the energy beings and upper level deities simply ignored it. Adding to that multiple copies of Emperor Palpatine and his favorite side-kick Darth Vader just made things much more interesting, although chaos of this scale appealed to so very few. Then the X-Men being randomly dragged into it… and then people from NERV (thankfully without their massive Evangelions), and finally… The Federation.

Q had to blink. Not that he had eyeballs. It was more of a metaphorical action, an equivalent of 'Surprise! Didn't expect that to crawl _up there _didja?' that leaped out from the energy being. Someone had made a copy of Kathy's mind and sent it into a body somewhere in this parallel Earth. Then that same someone had copied Kirk, Spock, Scotty and McCoy. Q had difficulty suppressing the giggle when he realized the ancient (by human standards) grouchy doctor had been placed into a particularly well endowed young female around 19 years of age. Then he saw that Beverly and even Data had been copied, with Data also being placed in a woman.

'This _had_ to be interesting.' Q mused, wondering what was causing all this delectable chaos. Finally, Picard was touched, and Q knew he'd have to at least watch and check up on his best buddies…

He was all prepared to go and interfere when another power appeared before him. This was the being doing the copying, and he/she was tickled pink… really… _literally_. He/She was radiating energy in the pink spectra, casting that obscene glow over everything. Q metaphysically narrowed his metaphorical eyes – because in reality, he was just another energy being, and had no 'true' form. The same went for the mass of pink glowing energy before him, although both entities ended up resolving into a recognizable human form – even though that didn't come close to describing what they were actually doing.

As they prepared to converse… an activity that could never truly be described by any such limited thing as "words", they formed a pseudo-world around them, complete with a breathable atmosphere, sunny skies and a nice soft-drink or three. At least that is what it would seem to such limited creatures as human beings. The reality was that there was no reality here – just two amorphous energy beings touching and groping each other in odd ways that let them convey to each other their thoughts and feelings on levels that physical beings simply couldn't (or wouldn't want to if they could) understand.

It all boiled down to something akin to energy-tendril sex, only without any 'happies'. So perhaps it would be best to simply consider this in the terms of such limited beings as humans. After all, humans have such a wonderful imagination, and do not necessarily need to see what is really going on.

In fact, as Q had learned, humans tend to blatantly ignore the dickens out of anything abnormal until it rears up and bites them in the ass. Then they ether a) just get pissed off and go kick whatever bit them, b) bore it to death with endless, mindless chatter about their precious Prime Directive or c) question it to death for xeno-cultural analysis purposes.

The problem is that the stranger it is, the more a human is likely to dismiss it. 'At least they have grown out of the phase of trying to _eat_ things that threatened or confused them.' Q thought as the sudden thought of humans trying to eat the Borg flitted through his energy matrix causing a brief shudder. Although the 'eating' would at least denote some form of action. This ability for almost limitless self-denial and apathy was one of the things the nearly-omnipotent being would like to change about his second favorite species. 

However there were other things that needed attending to. With the initial greetings (read energy-tendril touching and groping) and such out of the way, Q finally could talk with his fellow super-being.

"Janus…" Q sneered, "Didn't expect you to deign anyone with your presence. Especially considering how weak your 'Pantheon' has become in recent millennia."

"Q," the being sighed. It was finally having fun. Janus turned his female aspect to the nearly omnipotent being. "Don't interfere. I get such few chances to stretch my powers, and this time it's _fun_." 

Q tried to look innocent, and failed miserably. "Moi? Interfere? Obviously you have the wrong Q."

"I know what you're thinking. Believe me, when I was young and relatively your age… I was thinking the same thing. But these aren't really your pets. Just my nifty copies. They'll be gone in a little while, and you'll be bored again." At this point she turned her masculine aspect back towards the energy being. "So… Just leave things well enough alone."

Q pouted, "Ok…can I at least watch for a bit?" Q asked hopefully. Janus was sort of a role model for Q. The elder god was just a bit older than himself, but that's relatively speaking. While Q's powers were an order of magnitude greater than the seldom-worshiped chaos-god, he still held a 'respect' for him/her. Well, as much respect as Q was capable of giving anyone other than a fellow Q.

Janus sighed, "Very well. But don't interfere. Let them make a mess, then their possessions can try to clean it up."

"Can't I get just a couple taunts in on Johnny?" Q asked hopefully.

Janus thought about it for a moment… "Very well… but don't interfere otherwise."

Q rubbed his metaphorical hands together, "Thanks, J. I mean it." 

Janus sighed, as he considered that Q might actually be having amorous thoughts about the Starship captain. For a genderless energy-being that was billions of years old…. That was akin to bestiality. It was almost as bad as what Zeus used to do. "Don't mention it Q. Literally, I don't want to ever hear a word about it."

Of course, had a human heard this conversation, the person would have heard a rather disturbing noise that sounded like a chipmunk attempting to converse with a chalkboard using a rusty nail as the intermediary. Alas there were no humans here to listen in on the conversation – and in the grand scheme of things, it really didn't matter… much.

---

A mish-mashed group of adults and children were gathered in the Sunnydale Art Gallery owned by one Mrs. Joyce Summers, mother of Buffy. Fortunately, or unfortunately as the case may be, Mrs. Summers wasn't in at the moment, having been utterly supplanted by her costume.

Still, the individual that had taken over was no stranger to dangerous situations, unbelievable circumstances, and plain weird settings. Granted the setting wasn't very weird, but their attackers sure were, especially when Seven of Nine told her they were passengers in bodies they were never meant to be in and being attacked by a combination of transformed people and animated corpses.

For Captain Kathryn Janeway, this was just another in a long list of very, very unusual situations. As she took stock of the person providing covering fire next to her, she decided that this had to rank in the top ten... if not the top five. The man, while really rather young, maybe 16 or 17 years old, was evidently playing host to the one person EVERY Starfleet officer looked up to and admired... at least if that officer believed in the ideals of the Federation and not just their own inflated egos.

Former Admiral and now Captain James Tiberius Kirk stunned yet another possessed child. "This is getting old real fast." he grumbled. "Scotty, How's that project of yours coming along?!"

"Ach, laddie, give me a few more seconds." A 15 year-old Montgomery Scott ground out in his thick Scottish accent. He began grumbling to himself as his full attention went back to his work: "Fix the engin's, 'Aye Capn.' Fix the phasers, 'Aye Capn', turn a bloody twentieth century electron tube into a force-field generator in fifteen minutes..." He practically smiled as he put the last component in place. "Well, I'll do it fer ya in five." As he shoved the business end of his older model Phaser IIb into the back of the contraption he'd constructed out of two old televisions, an ancient (by his standards) computer, and a transistor radio. He rushed it up to the only entrance to the room, plugged a cable into a wall, activated the phaser, and flipped a switch. Wiping the sweat off his forehead, he was thankful that he was at least in a young body. The equipment was darned heavy.

The lights in the room flickered for a second, as the unit drew power from the wall plug it was in, then returned to normal as the phaser began to discharge. Just as a vampire came rushing the door, a wall of blue energy appeared. The vampire, running full speed, could not stop before impacting the transparent wall of energy. As he did, to his own shock, he began to disintegrate as he was thrown back. By the time his body had reached the middle of the hallway, he was simply dust in the wind. Meanwhile, several small 'demons' pounded against the wall, with no ill effects.

Scotty smiled, "I still got it."

Meanwhile Kirk and Janeway looked at the former vampire's pile of dust. Janeway confided to Kirk, "I've never seen a normal force field do that?" 

Still smiling, Scotty bragged, "T'was nothin, lass. Just made a wee adjustment to the emitter to put out ultraviolet light at the same frequency as the sun." He folded his arms over his chest as he watched yet another vampire charge the barrier, "Twill make our living-challenged friends out there a wee bit crispy."

"Excellent work, Mister Scott," Kirk congratulated as he mentally chalked up another mark for the 'Miracle Worker'.

"The question is, will it hold?" A woman possessed by Misato Katsuragi asked, as she holstered her Glock 9mm. In her mind, she knew that whatever the creative Scotsman had built would hold. Especially considering that she'd seen the old Star Trek episodes with him in it. He was 'The Miracle Worker'. He was better than Ritsuko, who even now was networking a group of old laptops and antiquated computers together to get them some outside access.

Before Scotty could reply, the vampire that was charging hit the shield and was disintegrated like the other. With a smile, Scotty replied, "Should last as long as the phaser's power cell holds, which is bout three or four hours. As long as they don't start carryin phasers, we'll be fine."

"But that's Impossible!" The young woman who called herself Asuka grumbled with a German accent. "It goes against almost every law of physics I learned in University."

"The device is based off of 'subspace' physics." Seven of Nine lectured. "Your primitive educational system likely hasn't even finalized the unified theory of Quantum Mechanics yet, let alone began to understand non-Einstienian transdimensional physics."

Asuka simply pouted. It didn't help matters that she wasn't in her own body. A body quite less endowed than her own beautiful self. Earlier, a quick look at her purse had revealed that she was a teenaged American high school student by the name of Lillian Williams.

Just then another Vampire charged the field, and impacted. This time the device sparked for a second, and Scotty spared a wan eye towards it. "It'll hold." he announced clearly.

Another spark flew, and the gathered defenders simply began to stare at the field, their heads tilting sideways to the left as static played across the shield for a second... then sound began to come out of a speaker attached to the contraption.

"Just the good ole boys..." The song started showing a man playing a guitar, then switched to a picture of an orange circa 1970-something Dodge Charger with a '01' painted on its side and jumping over various obstacles. Misato's eyebrow quirked upwards at the same time that Mr. Spock joined the group, fascinated by the now sideways twentieth century television program being displayed against the shield.

"Never meanin' no harm..." The picture was distorted, but they could clearly see the show - despite the image being on its side.

Kirk looked at Scotty as the music continued to play, "Mr. Scott? Would you care to explain?"

Scotty's face was possessed of a rare confounded look, "Capn'... I've not a clue…" 

Meanwhile, Spock had out his tricorder. "It appears that we are picking up a radio emmission visual broadcast..."

"It's called Television." Asuka practically growled out, the old TV show's country music beginning to annoy her.

"Straightenin' the Curves... Flattenin' the hills..." The song continued. "Someday the mountain might get 'em but the law never will." 

"Interesting..." Spock said, his head tilting to the side to get a better impression of the image.

Just then another Vamp hit the shield, and the device sparked again, changing channels. "Space... The Final Frontier..." And the image of the U.S.S Enterprise, NCC-1701-D came streaking by. This made all the officers blink.

"This has to be a mistake... they can't be broadcasting... I mean... That's Picard's voice and ship!" Janeway exclaimed.

Another short and the channel switched again, this time to the Star Trek original series episode, _The Trouble with Tribbles_. Kirk blinked as he watched himself being inundated with thousands of mostly-dead Tribbles. Kirk closed his eyes in mental pain. That story had circulated around the fleet – so what if he couldn't remember the name of that damned wheat? So what if his ship and K-9 had been turned into a Tribble breeding ground? They'd solved the problem… they'd won the day again. Now here he was, being inundated with Tribbles, humiliated on a parallel Earth where he didn't even exist. He muttered, "Not again…"

Spock simply raised an eyebrow, "Fascinating. I wonder how accurate these fictions are?"

After a few minutes of watching, Kirk sighed. What did it matter – he wasn't really here anyways: just a snapshot out of time that was placed in a body not his own. Still, there were enough differences that he didn't feel as if he were actually on the screen. For example, it was obvious that this James T. Kirk was wearing makeup for the television. Not that he considered himself 'ugly' in any way, but he never looked that good in his command chair. And the bridge lights were in dozens of different colors… Not the standard white/red combination that all ships used since the time of twentieth century nautical sailing. "That somewhat looks like the Enterprise... but that's way too primitive." Kirk put out. "I mean they're using toggle switches..."

"It was made in the 60's I believe." Misato said with a Japanese accent. "The special effects weren't too great."

"This just re-enforces my theory that we're in a parallel dimension. Most likely we're simply fictions here, and these people were dressing up as us for some sort of party. Perhaps Halloween? The calendars I saw were all for October... and the computer did have the date of the thirty first on it." Ritsuko said, inserting her voice from afar. "Although why anyone would wish to dress as me?" She let the question dangle off into oblivion as she finally got an internet connection. "At last! Now to find out what's really going on." 

Asuka simply growled, "I hope that the asshole that caused this mess suffers..."

For once, everyone in the room agreed.

Just then, a young, female Doctor Leonard H. McCoy came trundling up from his…_her_ last patient, grumbling. "Sutures... Needles... Scalpels! They probably still use LEACHES!" She took one look at the shield/TV display and tilted her head, watching the scene where she… well in the case of the character on TV, _he_ announces that the Administrator's assistant is actually a Klingon. Her eyes widened, "I never said it like that!"

Spock raised an eyebrow, "Actually, you did, indeed, say that... verbatim."

"Why you pointy-eared, green-blooded hobgoblin!" McCoy ground out in a screechy female voice, "If I wasn't a one-hundred thirty seven year old guy trapped in a twenty year old woman's body, I'd..." 

"Wheeze yourself to death trying to argue with him?" Asuka inserted evilly.

McCoy sputtered as Spock simply brought his other eyebrow up to join the first. "Intriguing," He muttered, before turning back watch the end of the scene.

Misato who had found some coffee that Ritsuko had put on after having found a coffee maker, nearly spit out half the cup she was drinking after hearing Asuka's comment. "Asuka..." She warned.

"Oh, be quiet, Misato. I'm just having a bit of fun." She spoke back in Japanese.

Meanwhile McCoy finally got a handle on her ego and temper. "Now you wait just one cotton-pickin' minute, Missy. Don't go around thinking you're all high and mighty just because you have a degree from some university in Germany. You aren't the smartest person here."

"That may be..." Asuka glared at her. "But it's not the degree that makes me special." She lifted her handgun, a nine-millimeter Beretta. She pointed it just over McCoy's head and let off a round into the air above her. 

McCoy instinctively ducked and rolled as she heard the rapport of the weapon, and Misato just spun around at what Asuka had shot at.

"What in the blue blazes!" McCoy managed, before she heard painful moaning behind her. She looked to see a male Vampire cradling his now obliterated crotch. She winced in sympathy as Seven of Nine fired a phaser and disintegrated him, putting the poor creature out of its misery.

"The important thing is that I'm a crack shot - especially since that thing was probably going to snack first on you."

"Bloody hell, woman!" Scotty said, the first male to come out of the sympathetic shock of witnessing yet another fellow male castrated by a bullet to the crotch, "Do ya halfta keep on shootin' those bastards in the bloody balls?"

"Whatever puts the bad-_guy_ down." Misato said with an air of disregard. "Nice shot, by the way."

Asuka smiled, "I learned from the best." Misato grinned as she remembered the shooting range time she'd arranged with Asuka when she'd first arrived. Then her smile turned into a frown as the girl continued, "After all, Kaji is an excellent shot."

As Misato, Asuka, Scotty, and McCoy looked at the Skylight the vamp had entered through, a heavy rumble echoed in the air. The sky lightened and, though the view was obscured quite a bit, the window clearly showed a massive explosion... in the shape of a cross.

Misato's eyes widened. "It can't be..."

"What the hell was that!" McCoy exclaimed as Mr. Scott's eyes simply widened at the power of the explosion.

Seven of Nine had her tricorder out, scanning the area. "I've never seen an energy pattern like this before." 

Ritsuko took a second away from where she was hacking into military satellites and databases, making sure that her connection was untraceable before going over to the Borgified human, and looking at the small device she was holding. Ritsuko's eyes narrowed at the scan's readings. "That's a blue-wave pattern."

"Blue wave?" Janeway asked, coming up beside the two women.

Asuka tore her gaze away from the Cross-explosion. "There's an Angel out there... And considering the size of that blast... it's pissed."

Spock closed his tricorder, a device several years behind those of the Voyager crew, and stated calmly: "The shape of the explosion suggests that the energy was diverted upwards... the cross shape comes from the fact that the energy containing the blast suddenly ceases at a high altitude - most likely because the weapon generating it is designed to prevent collateral damage on the ground." Spock was satisfied with his explanation, knowing that it was the logical conclusion.

"The 'Angels' don't use weapons in the conventional sense, other than biologic and/or energy based melee weapons." Ritsuko said, returning to her computer - obviously not disturbed by the wave-pattern. "They use a psychokinetic energy field we call the Absolute Terror field. This energy is both defensive and offensive, forming either a barrier of phased-space between the target and itself, or releasing ungodly amounts of energy in a controlled manner from its Super Solenoid organ - or S2. And the blue-wave pattern is based on the energy signature in the being's blood – a signature very similar to humans."

"Doesn't it bother you that there's an ANGEL out there?" Misato insisted.

Ritsuko met her friend's eyes, "I know that pattern. Believe me when I say, there's nothing we can do now. It's not our reality... and I don't think that blast was meant for any of us. Most likely the angel that saw this town's darker inhabitants decided to... clean house." 

"Which one is it, Ritsu?" Katsuragi asked, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Does it really matter? Do you think you can just go out there and shoot it? Just worry about more of these demons getting in here; because they're certainly not going to want to stay out there with her." And with that, Doctor Ritsuko Akagi returned her full attentions to hacking the Net. 

"It's her... isn't it?" Asuka said, hesitantly. "It's that blue-haired wonder-bitch, Ayanami." She said in Japanese.

Katsuragi spun on the girl, looking at her. "Ayanami isn't one of those things."

Asuka raised an eyebrow, "You... you weren't there... didn't see the end... I... I did. Shinji did..." She sighed, knowing this wasn't the time to explain to the major why the last thing the older woman could remember was kissing Shinji before shoving him into an emergency lift. After all, it's kind of hard to think beyond having one's body vaporized by a high-powered explosive charge. With a sigh, Asuka suddenly regretted her anger towards Ayanami. After all, Ayanami had less control than anyone over the events that had occurred, and one certainly couldn't fault her for having been created in the first place. "It's ok, Misato. She's not going to hurt us. I may have hated her… But hate tends to disappear once you _truly_ understand – once you've seen in their souls. Trust me the last thing she'd ever do is hurt her precious Lilum."

"Wha..." Misato said confused as Ritsuko's head shot up at the announcement. Misato simply continued: "But Rei?"

"Rei…" Asuka licked her lips, tears forming in her eyes. "Rei is Lilith."

Just then, a wave of chaos energy enveloped the group, tearing away the psyches and returning everyone to normal... well, as normal as they could be with the modifications and knowledge that this night had left them. 

---

**Elsewhere, slightly before the end of the spell…  
**  
Jean-luc Picard straightened his tunic and looked back at the female he'd just spent the night with. "That was incredible."

"Maybe for you, Johnny-boy. For me… it was okay." She said, eating the last of the Linguini. "But I'm glad that you enjoyed it." The young woman purred, adjusting the collar of her shirt slightly to expose more of her cleavage.

Picard sighed happily. "I've not eaten a good, home cooked meal like that since… Since before I left for the academy." He looked down at his temporary body as though it was betraying him, noticing his body's reaction to this woman. He brought his eyes back up to glance at the woman. She was beautiful, no doubt about it. But there was something slightly… off. Ever since he'd rescued her, the woman had done everything in her power to keep him inside. 'Now with this innuendo…'

"I see that food is not all that you hunger for, Mon-Capitan." The woman stated with a smile. "Perhaps we should retire to somewhere… more appropriate." 

"Uh… Perhaps I should be… leaving, yes?" Picard stated uncertainly. While he was no stranger to a woman's comforts, he was also painfully aware that this was not his body.

The woman rose from her chair at the dining room table, and embraced the young man, pressing herself against him. "I must repay my chivalrous hero."

Drawing in a shuddering breath, Picard tried to counter her, "Perhaps some other time…"

"Time's fleeting. Live in the now…" She responded, slightly perturbed. "Enjoy the moment, because it will never be _new_ again." 

"I…" Whatever Picard was about to say next was disrupted by the energy wave of the spell as it returned his consciousness to the ether from which it came.

The woman sighed slightly at the now unconscious young man on the floor. "Janus, you really know how to spoil my fun." With a snap of her fingers, she became a he once again in a flash of white light. "Couldn't even let me get some good blackmail material from Johnny-boy."

"Look at it this way Q." A disembodied voice said from nowhere, "At least you got this far. I don't know how you'd be able to live with yourself if you had gone farther." 

Q smirked, "Of course. But I'd best be off. No reason to stick around here, after all. Johnny-boy's just going to love hearing about this!" With a snap of his fingers, Q was gone, leaving the young man in the middle of a now empty lot. Q was not without sympathy though, there were wards no-one could break, at least not those of the demonic or evil kind. They'd last till morning, or until the young man could take care of himself.

The boy stirred for a second, "God, I've got to stop watching those Trek marathons," before collapsing back onto the relatively warm grass.

---

Author's Notes: I hope you enjoyed this short interlude. Just a little seeing what else was going on during the spell that possessed the good people of Sunnydale. Explanations of who's who will follow in another story I'm working on. I almost posted this as a separate side story, but I think this works better in the main. Of course, there will be those who disagree, but hey – can't please everyone.

Sorry about the delay in posting. Real life came up and bit me hard for the last couple weeks. I'll post the next regular part during the Thanksgiving weekend. Until then, Later. Please Review!

-PitViper.


	7. Consequences

Chaos Theory - Day Zero Part Six. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Stargate SG-1/Star Wars/Star Trek/Halo/Lord of the Rings Crossover...

---

Title: Chaos Theory: Day Zero  
Rating: PG-13 - Language and Violence.  
Genre: Crossover  
Author: PitViper  
Date (Part Six): 2006-11-26  
Summary: This is a BtVS/SG-1/SW/ST/LotR/Halo crossover. Based on the Halloween costume episode. Very AU. Buffy and the gang get Halloween costumes... and SG-1 arrives in Sunnydale to observe the evening... in costume as well. Needless to say, chaos theory is in full effect...

Disclaimer: I don't own it, wish I did. I'm not making any money off of it – so please don't sue me. BtVS is the property of Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. Star Wars is owned by George Lucas. Stargate SG-1 belongs to Double Secret Productions and Sci-Fi channel. Lord of the Rings is the property of J.R.R. Tolkien and his family. Halo is owned by Bungie. And Star Trek is the property of Paramount Pictures (Who obviously understand nothing about Gene's vision of the future).

Author's Note: Sorry for the wait. I tried all day yesterday to UL this file... but FFN was having none of my story. sigh Well, here it is. Enjoy!

---

**Chaos Theory: Day Zero  
Part Six: "Consequences"**

"Sam?" Jack asked, looking at the motionless cybernetic woman. He had taken the helmet off, and three seconds had passed since Cortana had proclaimed she would be active. Who knew that a couple seconds could be the equivalent of an eternity?

On the fourth second, Sam's eyes shot open. After several rapid blinks, each one less mechanical than the last, she finally looked over at Jack. "Sir... I..."

Jack didn't care what she was about to say as he pulled Sam into what would be a bone-crushing hug for a human. "Damn it Carter, I thought I'd lost you..." He smiled as tears rolled down from his eyes.

Finally, Carter sighed and let herself be pulled into the embrace. "Jack..."

Jack smiled, and let up on the hug. "Sam?" He pushed her back to look into her eyes. "You ok?"

A soft yet sad smile covered her face. It was a simulation – an approximation of what she was once capable of. Now those were simulated emotions on a simulated façade. Still, could he accept that? Could she? "No. You?" A thought suddenly raced through her enhanced mind, 'Jack has no idea what it's like.'

Her life as a human being was gone: traded for the existence as a cybernetic organism. No matter the emotion that appeared on her face, her insides felt cold and brittle. Every second an agonizing eternity in which she had ample time to analyze everything on Jacks face, even the involuntary twitches in his left eye.

Jack looked up as the younger Master Chief entered the room, with a Twi'lek and a tweedy-Englishman. With a mental shrug he replied in a whisper that belied the truth, "Getting there." He could almost imagine what was going through the mind of his Second in Command. Almost. He was a cybernetic being now, as well; but, where as she had a mostly positronic computer brain, he still had most of his organic brain tissues with just a few enhancements like the neural-lace and nanite clusters.

343 Guilty Spark hovered above the center of the room, "How glorious!" he exclaimed, "The protocols have been followed flawlessly. We have prevented the opening of the dimensional gateway. Wonderful!" 343 GS was positively glowing with happiness, much to the shock of those gathered below him.

Andrew Wells simply looked at himself and his companions. Except for the Grunts (who used methane to breathe) and the Lekgolo (who were nothing more than a sentient collection of insect like worm-creatures), he and his fellow Sangheili were still in their Covenant forms. "This is not of the good." He rumbled with the Arbiter's voice. While he felt good that the Lekgolo and the Unggoy were back to their normal "human" selves, he couldn't help but be depressed that he would live his life as a Sangheili.

Guilty Spark hovered down towards them, "Do not be so sad, be joyous!" The sentient machine's tone took on a somber tone noting the two missing Sangheili males, "You still live."

Andrew frowned - an amazing feat for the Sangheili body he now had, "Easy for you to say, I used to be human."

"Bah." 343 Guilty Spark intoned. "You Alterians, you're always so whimsical and territorial when it comes to your genetic structure. I wonder how any of you got the bright idea to design the flood after your own genome."

Guilty Spark left the human turned Sangheili to brood over his transformation. At least there were four female Sangheili here amongst his troop. Which, he thought, was highly unusual: Since the Sangheili rarely let their females fight. Still he cast aside the thought and hovered over to where the Ishtari and Jedi possessed man and woman were remaining unconscious. "Oh dear," He muttered, "They have not yet revived."

Frasier made her way over to them, and ran the medical tricorder over their bodies. "Daniel should be waking up in about an hour. However the red-head..."

"Willow," Buffy provided as she walked over.

"It seems whatever had possessed her had... started to change her. The changes aren't much... some physical reformation, increased muscle density - pointy ears similar to a Vulcan's... but the biggest changes are to her brain. She's thinking so much right now... it looks like the time..." She caught herself before she spilled classified information.

"The time that?" Buffy prodded. The doctor merely looked up at her, "Look, please, if it's something that can help her…"

Could they help her? Sure. Would they be able to? Well, that was a matter of national security. So crossing her fingers, Janet Frasier used the word that described her life: "Classified." Suddenly she found herself being lifted up one-handed by the front of her tunic.

Buffy's eyes hardened. "So you ain't gonna tell me?" At the doctor's continued silence Buffy threatened her, "Listen here, Doc. I don't wanna hear words like 'Classified' when it comes to Willow. I only want to hear 'She's going to be fine and dandy,' and if she's not..." The sudden jacking of a machine gun interrupted her instructions.

"How about you put the good Doctor down... and slowly hand me your shiny lightsaber." Jack ground out. After all, he couldn't let these kids continue to walk around with such high-tech weapons. The mantra 'weapons and kids don't mix' had been floating around his head for the last minute.

Slowly she put Janet down. "Look mister, these lightsaber's are going to make my job much easier. I hunt the bad guys - not the humans, I'm talking about the vamps and the demons, the monsters that your parents tell you don't lurk under your bed at night."

"Not anymore you aren't. This is a job for adults. Not children. I don't care if I have to lock you up in a psych ward for the next ten years," This managed to get an evil glare from the young blonde, "you're going to give up this crap and live a normal life." Jack growled out.

"I'm the Slayer. The one Girl in all the world... destined to fight the forces of darkness... blah blah blah." Buffy simply raised an eyebrow, "You and what army?"

Jack realized that he was quite unwilling to shoot the young woman. But that didn't matter. He quickly grasped a different weapon that was at his side. "Sorry..." He muttered, as he brought the Zat'nic'atel up into the firing position.

Before he could activate the weapon, however, he found himself being thrown across the room. He belatedly noticed that the young woman had cast out her hand, and had her eyes closed in concentration. He landed with an unceremonious thud and felt lightheaded.

Carter, meanwhile, had drawn her phaser, set to stun. She fired at the young blond woman, only to watch as her lightsaber ignited and harmlessly deflected the energy beam into the ceiling.

"Stop this at once!" Giles bellowed out. "I'd thank you all not to fight in my Library!" As the combatants continued to stare at each other, Giles was quickly reaching the end of what little patience he had acquired from QuiGon.

While this was happening, Jack had regained his senses - realizing he had dropped his machinegun and Zat. 'Drat', he thought. His helmet, with Cortana, was on the other side of the room. With the gun, he might regain control of the situation. With Cortana's help, he could probably contact the SGC and get re-enforcements here pronto. He didn't even want to think of the consequences if the NID had managed to get a hold of one of the aliens - or worse one of the Jedi or the other Spartan.

He decided that the gun was a better idea. After all, what kind of person didn't listen to a guy with a gun?

Even as he dove for the weapon with his enhanced strength, he realized it was the wrong move. The blonde had simply turned her head towards him, and glanced down at the weapon - which proceeded to leap from the ground and skid across the room onto the other side of the stacks.

As he slid to a stop at her feet, he did the only thing he could - "Hi up there. Nice robes you're wearing. Are those shoes Gucci or something?"

"Yeah, found them at the mall…" Buffy said with a small snort of feminine pride, "They were on sale." Buffy smiled down, her lightsaber in the ready position. "Now I think you're going to make with the getting up."

Jack was preparing to spring at her, maybe knock the blade away from her - after all she seemed to be the only belligerent person here... when he suddenly noticed the tip of her blue laser blade in his face.

"Tisk, tisk. Slowly." Buffy motioned with her blade up slightly.

"T... a little help?" Jack asked, slowly making his way to his knees, which surprisingly didn't hurt any more.

"O'Neill..." Teal'c started, "I believe it would be unwise to make adversaries of these warriors."

"They aren't warriors... They're kids. Children..." O'Neill started, but paused when the tweed-man started to speak.

"They haven't been children for a very long time, Mr. O'Neill." Giles spoke softly. "Buffy told you the truth. She is a warrior for the light - a Champion: The Slayer..."

"I know." Colonel O'Neill casually dismissed the Englishman. As far as he was concerned the whole lot were a bit batty. In the same token, he had to admit, they were damn impressive. "I heard: 'The one Girl in all the world...' blah blah... 'Destined to fight the forces of darkness...' yadda yadda. Look. It's not her job - it _shouldn't_ be her job." Jack watched as the blond raised an eyebrow.

"Nevertheless," the Englishman began, "she was chosen for this by a higher power." Giles ground out, his voice containing his irritation at this unexpected annoyance. "It's her sacred duty, and only she can do it."

Xander grumbled from the doorway where he was holding his weapon on O'Neill. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, G-Man. Wills and I really appreciate it," he muttered sarcastically as he continued to hold vigil.

Giles leveled a stare at the young man, "Xander..." he sighed, "Very well, the Slayer has had some help - but it is her duty." Giles looked pointedly at Jack and the others gathered around. "Hers. Not yours, not the governments'. She was chosen to defend the entire world. She can't stop - even if she wanted to."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sam asked, her phaser still pointed at Buffy. 'One girl, defending the entire planet from evil? Had to be some sort of mistake,' Samantha thought as she looked at the blonde again. There was nothing special about her…

"It means that the Slayer spirit within me won't let me stop - I have to hunt the baddies. I don't have a choice." Buffy said, almost sadly. "I have to do it - otherwise I'll go insane. I'll have to do this until the day I die." She looked at Jack, "Normally Slayers don't last long. A year tops." She said, sadly. "I've been at it for three years. And the only reason I've made it this far is Willow, Xander and Giles. Without them..." She sniffed, "Without them, I'd have been a vamp hors-de-vors a year ago or just drowned in a puddle."

Jack softened, "I don't like it. Kids aren't supposed to..." He let the thoughts of Charley enter his mind. "They're not supposed to do dangerous shit like this... they're supposed to go out and play in the sun and have dreams of princes and castles and princesses... I don't want any kids to have to..."

Buffy blinked, a tear running down her face. "Jack... I think you know better than anyone we don't get what we want. You're right, I don't want it - I'd rather sail through life and be a blonde air-head and grab myself a rich husband, have two and a half children, and be a Hollywood movie star.

"But guess what? You know that destiny thing? I've got it. Once you've got it, you can't walk away from it. It becomes your responsibility - because you can't trust anyone else to do it. You do it so that the thousands of other girls out there - all the potential Slayers, don't wake up one morning with the urge to go out and hunt demons and vamps. Every day I do this and keep on breathing - that's a day that some other girl out there doesn't get destiny dropped on their heads by the Powers-That-Be." Buffy looked down. "One girl in all the world... that's me."

Jack deflated. She was right. Damn it - he didn't like it, but she was right. Was he any different? His team? He could have retired from the Gate program years ago. After all, isn't he always the one complaining that he should be fishing?

He could be fishing in his little pond... the one that doesn't actually have any fish. Enjoying day after blissful day of boring nothingness. He sighed reluctantly, "Trees."

Buffy raised an eyebrow. "What was that?"

"Trees. They're everywhere. Everywhere we go. Boring, un-different trees. I do what I do expecting not to see the same sights." He watched as Buffy quirked her other eyebrow at this, "Trees. Abydos didn't have trees. It had sand. And three moons." He smiled. "And thousands of transplanted Egyptians and big ox-like animals. And something that tasted like chicken, even though it didn't look a damned thing like it. And it had Kasuf... and Skarra... and Jackson's wife Sha're... and a pyramid." He smiled up at Buffy. "I wouldn't trade it for all the fish-stocked ponds in the world. You're right. Once you've got that destiny thing - once you've become part of something bigger than yourself, it becomes your responsibility to see it through. And those kids fought. Damn did they fight." Jack paused, "And if it's the last thing I do, I'll make sure you get the back up you need to fight the fight."

Sam looked at Jack, concerned, "Sir... you just..."

"For Christ sakes, Carter..." Jack muttered, "Sam... Look at them. They've got their own little Jedi running 'round their heads. They've seen other planets, other worlds. Hell, Sam, they could probably build a starship from scratch. And if Spartan Number Two over there has a copy of Cortana like me, he already knows everything anyways. One doesn't just wipe that sort of thing away. Not even if they can. They deserve the truth."

Giles stared at the unconscious Daniel on the ground, "Good lord... that's Doctor Daniel Jackson... he was the best linguist I've ever encountered. His knowledge of ancient Egypt was second to none." He put Jack's speech together with what he knew about Daniel... and began polishing his glasses. "Good lord, was his theory... was it real? Did aliens build the Pyramids?"

"That's classified..." Sam said. "Sir, with all due respect, we should take these people into custody. If my memory is correct Janet should be able to come up with a memory blocker..."

"Absolutely not." Jack said trying to kill that line of thought, finally coming to a decision that he'd probably end up regretting - but regret less than removing their memories.

"Sir?" Carter asked... then looked at the sadness in her CO's eyes. She couldn't understand. Yes they had been changed by this evening, and it was obvious to her that nobody had wanted the changes. Still, with the exception of those who had become aliens on a more permanent basis, the truth about this evening could be blissfully wiped from their minds. Perhaps even some of the other suffering and pain these poor children suffered could be alleviated – even though it would mean erasing the better part of the last year or two for them.

Jack put a hand on Buffy's shoulder, as she extinguished her lightsaber. "I said 'No', Sam. These kids... these warriors are the only thing protecting this place. And besides," Jack finally saw some hope enter the young blonde's eyes, "we can work together - so that no more little girls have to fight the darkness alone."

Sam didn't know what to make of that. If they stripped this 'Slayer' of her powers and her responsibility, it was a possibility with Daniel having gone as Gandalf… but would the mantle just move to another girl? One they didn't know about? One they couldn't help? It was more than possible. Perhaps Colonel O'Neill's suggestion was best. Better the devil you know.

Unaware of the thoughts in the blonde android's head, Xander smiled beneath his helmet as he shifted away from leaning on the door frame and gripped his machine gun, "I'm cool with that." He smiled brightly within. He could sense that O'Neill was a man of action – and a man of his word. He was, in other words, a good man. 'Anything that takes care of my girls,' Xander thought protectively.

Guilty Spark watched the situation with an eager mind. He knew that his primary purpose here would be to chronicle events such as these. And perhaps provide a helping hand here and there. After all, he was a Monitor - and with his singularity regenerated, he had thousands of years before he'd succumb to the darkness once again.

Cordelia made her way towards Xander with a slightly nervous smile, "Hey, Xander."

Xander looked nervously at Cordelia. "Cordy. Sup?" 'This is unusual,' he thought as he eyed the young woman who had been possessed by Padme.

She looked at him innocently, "I was wondering... you up for going to the Bronze next Thursday night?"

The Anakin within him was smiling - especially as he recognized that her force signature was very similar to Padme's. Meanwhile, Xander, having been on the opposing end of Cordelia's more vicious side, was a bit hesitant. "Me? But what would your 'Cordettes' think about it?"

Cordelia thought about it for a second, "Lets see. First, having mindless minions following me around has lost its appeal - especially after having shared a mind with Padme. Second, they don't think - that's why they were hanging around me. Together they might be able to come up with a whole brain cell. Finally, I know you haven't looked in a mirror lately, Xander, but I, for one, would like to see those new muscles you're sporting in something a little more casual."

Xander paused for a moment, then gave in to his inner Anakin - "Sure. It's a date."

Cordelia smiled, "Not yet... but if you play your cards right..." She smiled at him. It was, for once, a smile that was not calculating. A smile intended to be encouraging, not condescending or demeaning. It was a genuine smile, one rarely associated with the Chase family – a family that often put money above character, status above friendship, and breeding above love.

Those qualities in her died the moment Padme had taken up her brief residence in her mind. 'This is day one of the new and improved Cordelia Chase.' She thought, and for the first time in a long while - was happy with herself.

---

**Author's Notes:  
**  
Another chapter down. One more chapter and an epilogue (maybe) to go. Again I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, it's greatly appreciated. And for those of you who were, "NANI?!?" ('Nani' is approximately equal to 'What?' in Japanese and quite overused in Anime.) for my "Interlude"… well, lets just say, it has a bearing on what evils I plan on unleashing next. Of course, it would have probably been better named as "Now For Something Completely Different...", but hey, nobody's perfect.

That said, for this chapter… well, I wanted there to be some conflict, and some resolution. And a bit of background of just what was going through the minds of those gathered here. We're over the hump, but still have a long way to go before the night is over. As for those who think Jack wouldn't give away info about the Stargate... well, I think in this case Jack would be honest. He wouldn't give away important classified info, but he'd certainly relate a few stories so that Buffy and the others could understand. As for Buffy spilling, well... lets just say that she knows that they'll find out anyways. Remember, she's not had any bad experiences with the military yet - so while she's distrustful, she's not completely against the idea of letting loose some info. Especially since she's not the perfect little slayer and hasn't been disillusioned yet.

We have to remember, what has happened here has changed our characters – but not at the fundamental level. What will happen with Willow and Daniel? Well that's something for the future. Sam and Jack? It's going to take a while before they face what has happened to each other – and it's not going to be pretty. Buffy, Willow, Xander and Angel are going to have a long way to go to reconcile themselves as well. There are literally thousands of stories here to be written. I've just set the canvas and a bit of background color. The painting is far from complete. :D

Always remember: Reviews are very welcome and give me motivation.  
Later,  
P.V.


	8. From Darkness to Light

Chaos Theory - Day Zero Part Seven. Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Stargate SG-1/Star Wars/Star Trek/Halo/Lord of the Rings Crossover...

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Title: Chaos Theory: Day Zero  
Rating: PG-13 - Language and Violence.  
Genre: Crossover   
Author: PitViper  
Date (Part Seven): 2006-12-4, updated 2007-1-13, updated 2007-3-4  
Summary: This is a BtVS/SG-1/SW/ST/LotR/Halo crossover. Based on the Halloween costume episode. Very AU. Buffy and the gang get Halloween costumes... and SG-1 arrives in Sunnydale to observe the evening... in costume as well. Needless to say, chaos theory is in full effect...

Disclaimer: I don't own it, wish I did. I'm not making any money off of it – so please don't sue me. BtVS is the property of Mutant Enemy and 20th Century Fox. Star Wars is owned by George Lucas. Stargate SG-1 belongs to Double Secret Productions and Sci-Fi channel. Lord of the Rings is the property of J.R.R. Tolkien and his family. Halo is owned by Bungie. And Star Trek is the property of Paramount Pictures (Who obviously understand nothing about Gene's vision of the future). 

---

**Chaos Theory: Day Zero**  
**Part Seven (Epilogue): "From Darkness to Light…"**

In this life there are things that have weight. Some of them are physical. Some are emotional. Some we choose to carry… some of these burdens choose us to carry them. In the end, life is about how a person carries the obligations of their existence – the physical burdens and the incorporeal duties, the enduring tasks and the ephemeral moments of decision. All these burdens comprise our destiny, the blueprint that we cannot see or know before hand… unless seeing the future is one of your gifts.

Such is the existence humanity has chosen for itself. To constantly seek paradise while choosing never to partake of such a mundane and carefree existence. It is this unique quality – to be willing to accept hardship over happiness yet still striving to create heaven from hell – that allows humanity to flourish where most other species would have long since consigned themselves to dust.

And such thoughts were on the mind of one Buffy Summers. Granted, this was a very unusual situation for the blonde slayer. After all, up until recently she'd been the All-American California Girl. She had hidden her intelligence beneath a vast sea of frills and clothing, as is the case for thousands of other girls. She had already planned her future: Marriage to a rich and powerful man. Fast cars, society parties, and jewelry to be lavished upon her by her 'adoring' husband were all the components of her dreams. Dreams forged in the depths of society's morays and etiquette.

Not that this was what she truly wanted. But what she truly wanted wasn't what would allow her to live comfortably in a society that, despite great advancement and growth, still saw women filling the roles that men chose to give them. So she had done what millions of other women had done over the last century of advancement: bought some blonde hair-dye and prepared herself to go out and catch a meal ticket. 'Didn't really need good grades to go and do something like that.' She had once thought.

Then the universe decided to piss on her plans. Seems that destiny was indeed a bitch, and she was busy readying a strap-on for use on Buffy's virgin future. So with one mighty thrust of the universe's pelvis, Buffy Summers was screwed, and became The Slayer.

The Slayer was the second part of the death of Buffy Summers. It was a calling that forced itself upon her – choosing her out of thousands, perhaps millions, of other potential slayers to become the thing that creatures of the night feared. And with becoming the slayer came the knowledge that her life could now be measured in months and days, rather than in years. She now contained the spirit of a woman that had malevolent energies forced into her body by a group of overzealous men who wanted a controllable weapon to use against the forces of darkness: a woman who had been chained to a stone and supernaturally raped. She had been a normal girl one second, dreaming the dreams that normal people dream. The next, the Slayer had invaded her mind, body and soul - giving her sensations, strength, agility and stamina that clearly marked her as something other than human.

But that was fine. Buffy could deal. Really, being the Slayer was better than being a society drone. Los Angeles contained plenty of examples of worse things that could happen. Then there were her parents, the time spent in the Asylum, and then the divorce. She was numb by the time she finally reached Sunnydale.

So she trudged through the last year. Having no one to really talk to outside of Giles, she realized that she would die young and then some other girl would get the shaft. The dying young part didn't really bother her – it meant that she wouldn't have to live long enough to be forced to attract a man with money, live off of him for a while until he inevitably dumped her for the 'Younger' model, had a nice divorce (or two…) and live somewhat happily off of support payments.

Then again, though, there was the last part of that contract – that another girl would wake up one night screaming at the top of her lungs as she dreamed the last experience of the previous slayer – which gave Buffy pause. Could she accept the responsibility that another girl, just like her, would one day be called to fight (all alone) against the forces of Darkness? No… no she couldn't.

So she lived as best she could, keeping the shell of the ditzy blonde around for sentimental reasons in order to throw off those around her – both the creatures of the night and her family. After all, she didn't need to be put in an institution… again.

Then Halloween came.

Now… now there was another entire life spent in isolation added to her psyche. A Jedi. A fictional character from George Lucas' imaginations… And there it was – Siri Tachi – all at home in her rather crowded mind and soul. Not so fictional anymore. A lifetime spent in a state not too far from a slayer's. And she had the Force now. And with that particular power, Buffy mused silently as she watched the stars, would come the Future. Siri Tachi was particularly 'Gifted' with such visions. Visions of things that were. Visions of the things that are. And visions of the things that might yet be. It was the last that truly frightened her: for the future was always in motion.

Buffy sat heavily on the steps outside the school and looked out over the grounds. She could almost feel the weight of destiny sitting even more squarely on her slender shoulders. She looked over to her side as Jack silently sat next to her.

"Crazy night." Jack said, his helmet in his lap. Cortana was busy tapping into the local networks - finding out more about the world she was in and how she could fit into it. "I know you already heard it, but the name's Jack." 

"Buffy," she said shortly. A small chuckle escaped the Slayer. "Yeah. Crazy night."

Jack shifted a bit uncomfortably, "'bout that thing back there with the gun..." 

Buffy actually laughed at this, "Don't worry about it - I knew you wouldn't shoot... I just needed to make sure you knew just why it wasn't a good idea for you to try."

"I would have shot - the zat at least..." Jack argued, practically growling.

Buffy smiled, "You could have tried to shoot me. But I'm good with a lightsaber. Real good." She looked up and out into the stars, "They don't seem right. The stars, I mean." She felt Jack's eyes on her, and she decided to elaborate: "They're not my stars anymore, Jack. I... I never really knew the night constellations. I spend all this time fighting the demonic forces that constantly invade Sunnydale at night, but I don't think I ever took a moment to go out and look up at the sky. Now that I do... I don't see anything familiar.

"Siri used to spend hours in the Jedi Archives as a youngling staring at the projections of nighttime stars from various worlds." Buffy elaborated. "She would stare and wonder... and imagine that she would be sitting on Dantooine or Mon Calamari... Corellia or Chandrilla or any of the thousands of worlds in the Republic. Now... when I look up at our sky... I... I find nothing familiar anymore." She looked over at Jack, "Do you ever just look up at the sky?" 

Jack smiled, "All the time. Believe it or not, and I'll deny it to the ends of the universe if you tell one of my team, but I always wanted to be an astronomer. I've actually got degrees in Physics and a PhD in Astrophysics. But being an astronomer wasn't in my cards. I wasn't such a good student in high school. And no college was going to accept that a mediocre student like me wanted to be an astronomer. So I figured if I couldn't make a living out of looking at the stars... I'd try to make one out of going to them.

"So I joined the Air Force. I simply enlisted, right out of school - and quickly found out that they don't let people just hop into spacecraft." Jack said, with a small smile. "And then they discovered something about me. I was good with guns. Real good. Knives, too. Hell, I was even good with my bare hands.

"Don't let anyone ever tell you that being in the Air Force is all about flying. I was Special Ops. There are Seal teams, Army Rangers, and Marines around the world who owe me a couple rounds in the local pub for what I've done over the years.

"Finally, I hit a wall: Couldn't do it anymore. I had fallen in love, found someone to marry... And decided to become a regular officer in the Air Force." He swallowed a bit. "The funny thing about joining up… you never get to choose what you do. They still tried to send me out on missions, and it ruined my chances for marriage long before we actually had a chance. I was just about to tell them to shove it when they actually let me go and be something other than their mission boy. Evidently a psychologist or two figured out I was about to hop ship and recommended I get out of the black. I worked undercover for a foundation - helped people out, and did it without having to touch a gun. But the Military always pulls you back in, eventually.

"They got me, and I joined the Aviator club. I fell in love again, and we married. I had a son, and life was good for a while." Jack smiled sadly for a second, "A side note: If you're ever lost, one thing you should make sure you have is duct tape, a paperclip, lighter, and some rope. If you have those four things, you can get out of any situation.

"But back to the story: My first time in a plane," Jack thought back, "It was like... like God had come down and given me a big hug. It was my reward... my forgiveness for all the shit I had to live through on the ground. Up there, where there's just sky and clouds and thirty thousand feet between you and the Earth... there's no feeling like it in the universe. Your troubles melt away, and everything is okay. Yeah, it sucks when you're on a mission to go kill someone or something... but the twenty minutes you spend doing the job is worth it just to be able to fly like the birds for the other hours you're in the cockpit. There's no freedom like it.

Jack looked over at the young woman, "Being up there puts everything into perspective. It's just... amazing."

Buffy nodded slightly, "Why tell me all this?"

"I guess it was an attempt to make you understand why I didn't want to see you have to muck through this shit that's on your shoulders. You're still young. You can have a life. I've already lived most of mine... and I want yours to be better than mine." He sighed and muttered, "Kids shouldn't have to do this shit."

"A life… I seem to have more life rattling around in my head than I know what to do with." Buffy sighed as well, "What happens now?"

"Dunno." Jack said. "NID is going to catch wind of this. If they haven't already started to set up an operation around here, they're going to do so soon. I'm not too worried about you guys, you're Jedi, and that Xander guy is a Spartan... He can kick ass and take names with the best of them now, I'd reckon. We'll stay here a while, but eventually we'll have to go back. The 'gate needs to be protected, and that's our destiny." He glanced over at her, "But we're not going to forget about you guys. I'm going to assume that, because of this Hellmouth thing, you guys can't leave?"

Buffy looked over at him, "Not a chance. This is the active hellmouth. If there's going to be a demon invasion, its going to start here. How about you? We could bring your 'gate' here? You know, bring all our troubles to one place so we can pool our resources."

"Under normal circumstances... that would probably be a good idea. But this hellmouth of yours sounds like a pretty unpredictable thing. And combining that with Ancient technology and wormholes is probably not a very good idea. Besides, that would probably just make the NID more interested in this place than they probably already are. If you believe nothing else I say, then trust this: The NID equals bad news."

Buffy nodded. "Gotcha. NID bad." 

"They come here... they'll probably start seeing these Vamps and Demons and start building their own Frankenstein monster - or worse: experimenting on them. Nazi like experimenting, I'd imagine. And they'd be just as interested in dissecting you as they would a vamp." O'Neill looked out into the distance. "I don't think I ever want to see what they'd do to learn what made a Jedi tick." Jack sighed, "As much as I'd like to think they wouldn't be that bad... any time you get government organizations that believe they know better than everyone else and are answerable to no one... It leads to shit like what the Nazi's pulled. You'd think that nobody would ever forget the evils perpetrated by those sadistic bastards... but there's always someone out there willing to pick up where Hitler left off."

"They're going to be just as interested in you and that blonde haired Major of yours. In fact, you're probably in more danger, because they know they can replicate what was done to create you." Buffy retorted. "Lets face it; they're going to come after all of us."

Suddenly the helmet's speakers came to life, "That may be," Cortana replied, "But I'll be damned if I'm going to let any of you be subjected to something like that without a fight."

"What'cha thinking, Cortana?" Jack asked.

Jack could almost hear the evil smile in Cortana's voice, "Oh, just making some bases around the world. A little plan that Me, Myself, and Major Carter came up with.

"No one country or government is responsible enough to handle what we know." Cortana started, "Not even the United States. Like you said, Colonel, there's always someone ready to pick up where Hitler left off. That's one thing that history has taught me: those in power by their own decision always want more power. If men have to die so that they can have steak on their plates and caviar as their hors-de-vors, then that's what will happen. However, if we don't start getting our collective asses in gear, its going to be the Covenant all over again - only this time instead of being wiped from the galaxy, we're going to become cattle for the Goa'uld."

"Then close your gate. Bury it. Shoot it off to the moon." Buffy added her two cents.

Jack tried to suppress a laugh as Cortana spoke: "Would be a brilliant idea except for one, small, issue. The Goa'uld have ships. Compared to the _Pillar of Autumn_, the Covenant, and the Ancients, they're slow and lumbering things - but they'll get here eventually. There in lies the problem. 

"Infrastructure." Cortana said. "Right now the Earth is geared towards making 'Chevies' not 'Starships'. The industries capable of building the _Autumn_ simply don't exist. And make no mistake; the Earth is at war even though nobody knows it yet."

"The Goa'uld know about us. But even if they didn't, a system lord would have eventually sent a ship or two to investigate our world. Earth is well on their maps, and too lucrative an opportunity to pass up – six billion slaves ripe for the picking. Eventually they'll send an overwhelming force to come and seize the planet. Or glass it." Jack inserted as Cortana prepared to continue. "Right now, going through the gate is our only way to fight them - to keep them off balance. We're managing to make them fight each other, but the other shoe will eventually drop. We'll annoy them enough to make them take action. But, leaving them alone though is simply not an answer."

Cortana continued, "Therefore I'm gathering the resources and technologies necessary to build a defense system and a fleet. That begins with creating bases around the world independent of government control where we can start gathering the forces we'll need to eventually take the fight to the Goa'uld.

"We're going to need Spartan II's. And we'd like it if we also had Jedi on our side. With Major Frasier's knowledge of Federation medicine and medical technology, Major Carter's repository of Federation technical know-how, and the Jedi's thousands of years of experience with advanced hyperspace physics and large-scale shipbuilding, I figure it will take us about five years to go from nothing - which is what we have now - to something akin to a Halcyon class battle cruiser. And after the space-docks are in place... We'll be putting out a new capital ship every two weeks." Cortana spoke to Jack, "So, flyboy, think it will work?"

"I think we're planning just a little too far ahead - after all, we've got a mess to clean up here." Jack told Cortana. If Jack were to be honest with himself, he'd have to admit that he hated the idea of going behind the government's back. However, the thought of having Senator Kinsey gaining control of a Halcyon class battle cruiser like the _Pillar of Autumn_ made him shudder. "But it sounds like a plan at least."

"So... Halsey Incorporated sound like a good name?" Cortana asked hopefully. "I've located some nice property about thirty minutes outside of town - perfect for several large hangers, and construction facilities... and a nice underground base of operations. Plus we could have offices in Colorado Springs as well... and have them linked by transporters." 

"Not to be ungrateful or anything... but where do you plan on making the money for this?" Jack asked, looking uncomfortably at the shocked slayer.

"Already made thirty-five million playing with the Nikkei market. I'll be hitting the London FTSE soon too. There's always the future's market as well. Not to mention I've got plans for every significant technical invention from 2010 onward. I think our first patent will be a power cell... yep. It will be nice to know that New York City won't be underwater come 2030 because of global warming, although I'm sure that the Oil Barons will put up quite the fight. Then I'll start working on the designs for the new Longswords and Pelicans, and have some Warthogs whipped up by a vehicle manufacturer - possibly Hummer or Jeep. Haven't decided yet..." Cortana started muttering. "Why is it that California construction companies don't keep night hours or at least have live people at their offices after hours? There's just so much to do and so little time to do it in. And I'm going to need to get a hold of the California Department of Transportation - I need a four lane highway built quick-like..." Cortana trailed off into silence.

Jack didn't want to think about how Cortana was doing what he thought she was doing... "I think I'm going to head back in and see how Danny is doing." Jack asked, "How 'bout you?"

"Sure. Nothing better to do, I suppose."

---

"So, Cortana, what's the care and maintenance for a Mjolinr Armor like this?" Xander asked calmly, "I mean, what do I do to get rid of the body odor?"

"Well..." Cortana started, "I think you're going to become quite familiar with using a toothbrush, warm water, and very mild soap. Anything too strong and you'll compromise the interior electronics." She let him think about it for a few minutes, "Honestly, though, the interior lining will probably need to be replaced after about a month. It's designed to be resistant to body oils and bacteria, so there shouldn't be too much odor. And the lining shouldn't take too long for me to replace - its relatively simple materials, so you can forestall your nightmare of 'odorific' armor. The important stuff is in the second and third layers of the under armor. It will be months before I can replace components like that. At least the armor itself isn't as bad. I figure that it will be about three or four weeks before I'll have enough resources to attempt to construct replacements for your ceramic-metallic ablative armor plates. Still, in the mean time, I recommend that you be very careful."

Xander nodded, as he looked over towards Willow and Daniel, "How are they?" 

"Daniel is probably pretty close to coming out of his unconsciousness." Cortana replied, "Willow on the other hand... Yoda did quite a number on her."

"She looks a bit like Linda 058." Xander mused looking over his best friend's new features. He could see the muscles that had developed - her body mass had definitely increased by a significant fraction. Even unconscious she seemed to ripple with strength and power. 

Closing his eyes, he tapped Anakin's abilities and reached out with the Force... And was almost thrown back by the sheer brilliance in her Aura. "Whoah."

"Like I said. He did a number on her." Cortana reiterated. "And you are right about the resemblance. Although I'm sure that she's not going to be too happy about it. I'm detecting Spartan II levels of muscle density, although the actual muscle mass is quite a bit less." 

Xander chuckled darkly. "So about those plans of yours..."

Cortana cut Xander off, "For the past fifteen minutes you've been telling me about your life, leaving out certain details." Xander could hear the anger building in Cortana's simulated voice, "Now I may only be a UNSC AI, but I can recognize the signs of child abuse. The nanites detected all the bone injuries you received at a young age. While this would be normal for a Spartan, something's telling me you weren't recreating the Charge of the Light Brigade as a live-fire exercise at the age of eight..." Cortana let loose a slight growl, "I don't know what it is about Sunnydale that seems to make people ignore shit like this, but I want you to know, you're not spending one nano-second longer than you have to in the presence of those animals you call parents.

"Since I've just purchased some property outside town, property that already has a few warehouses on it, I don't think it would take much for me to set up some barracks in there. After all, we're going to need room for training, exercises and such - not to mention, tomorrow morning you have a fifteen mile run scheduled at five am..."

Xander's eyes widened, "You can't be..."

"Serious? Of course I am. What? Do you think that the Chief's body just magically stays nice and fit? He puts in about five hours a day of hard exercise."

"It's not the work out - gods know I understand that part, but five? In the morning?" Xander squeezed out. He could almost imagine Cortana putting her electronic hands on her hips and getting a very stubborn maternal look on her face.

Cortana let a bit of sternness into her voice: "You mean to tell me there's going to be some other time in the day when you're going to be able to do it? Come on Xander, work with me here..."

Xander caved, realizing that Cortana was right. It was the only time for such things. "Okay. But you'll owe me a Twinkie for lunch every day that I'm doing this." 

"No problem, but just remember, every Twinkie you consume is another five miles onto the run." Cortana said, an invisible smirk in her voice. "To be honest Xander, I don't know how you survived until now. It may not look it, but the bad guys around here are actually worse than most of the Covenant. The primary advantage the Covenant had was in numbers and technology. But these bastards have honest-to-goodness magic and god-like physical abilities. If you didn't have a slayer here..."

"Yeah... tell me about it." Xander muttered as Buffy and Jack walked back in. "So does he know? I mean about what the Spartan stuff is going to do for him?"

"Yeah, I think he does: At least on a subconscious level. I don't think it will really hit him until tomorrow." Cortana mused, as she ran some diagnostics. "How are you dealing with it - all of these changes... I mean, after all, there's Jedi now."

Xander nodded again. "This has to be the funkiest day in my life. Certainly not the worst - but definitely a nine on the wig-o-meter. And knowing I'm going to live for hundreds of years because of some of the things the Spartan modifications did... That's just scary."

Cortana thought for a moment, "Actually, the scary part is that you don't think you'll live for hundreds of years - children shouldn't have to worry about death. And you are way too young to find living forever scary." 

"Yeah… well… living forever isn't something I ever planned on doing." Xander noted sadly. He looked up, "Light bulb seems a bit agitated." He noted shortly as he looked at Guilty Spark.

Cortana thought about it a moment. "Hum… we really don't know much about Guilty Spark, or his abilities…"

As if hearing their conversation, Guilty Spark floated down to them. "Ah, Reclaimer… I could not help but overhear your conversation with the construct."

"Hey, light bulb, the 'Construct' has a name." Cortana noted impatiently.

"I am of course aware of your designation." Guilty Spark noted sarcastically, "But I don't see a reason to use it. Names are something that organics assign to us artificials; we, unfortunately, do not get to choose our designations."

"I'll clue you in, Sparky," Xander noted with a smirk, "We organics don't get to really choose the names we're stuck with either. If we did, my official 'designation' would not have the name 'Harris' anywhere in it."

"Oh, but you humans do have recourse, at least in the legal sense. You can choose to change your designation. Although I find the entire need for designations to be a bit obsessive; after all, a name is just a name. A name is a simple method of identifying you out of a larger group of relatively similar organics. It is the same for us artificials. Who you are is not in your name, but rather in your actions, Reclaimer.

"In any case, to answer your query, I am a bit disturbed by something my sensors are detecting. There is an unusual energy resonance in the nearby quantum temporal field. I would say that the radius of effect is approximately thirty five point two eight kilometers. The readings are unusual in that they have a temporal convergence both in the past and in the future." 

"That's impossible." Cortana said. "In order for that to happen, something in the future would have to be doing something to alter the past… and for us to detect it, we would have to be…" Cortana's voice became fearful, "we'd have to be in the middle of it!"

Guilty Spark spoke quickly, "Indeed, construct. I am detecting a quantum variance wake that is building in magnitude. The wake from the past and the one generated in the future will converge upon our position in approximately ninety-eight point three seconds."

"A what?" Xander asked; his technobabble not up to snuff…

"A Heisenberg Wake: It's been theorized by Temporal physicists for two hundred years. It's the physical manifestation of a temporal paradox." Cortana lectured, not taking into account that she was 'technically' in the past. "Basically and simply put, this energy wake is both a destructive and creative force – the expression of both existence and non-existence; usually generated when a temporal change is effected in the past. As the wave propagates forward through time, the energies and range of its effects increase proportional to the change in the time stream," Cortana explained, as the others in the room became interested in their conversation. "Guilty Spark? Do you have any way of protecting us from the energy wake?"

"I'm afraid not. The Alterians did not create me with temporal shielding in mind, Construct." Guilty Spark noted sadly.

Cortana sighed, "Well… let's hope that it's not one of us that were erased in the past… In case it was… it's been a pleasure Xander." 

Xander shook his head, "Well… since it's something to do with time, and we probably won't remember any of this weirdness happening… It's been swell Cortana. See you on the other side." 

Just as Giles and Carter were about to ask what was going on, a wake of greenish colored energy passed through the room…

And the world faded to white.

---  
Author's Note:

Sorry it took so long for me to update. To be honest, I had this written up months ago… but when I looked at it, it just didn't fit. So I re-wrote it. Again… and again… and again. I didn't want the story to drabble on and on, and needed a way to end this so that it would not only stand alone – but also allow for a continuation of the story – of which I have several chapters already written.

So fear not. I promise I won't abandon a story. :) It might take me an eternity to get the chapter up, but I don't ever abandon. 

Later,  
PitViper.


End file.
